
Class _J13 



L-L-L 



Book 



58 



Copyright N°. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. 



THREE MONTHS 



IN 



FOREIGN LANDS 



I'.V 



W. W. WHEELER. 



COPYRIGHTED. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DfcC ^6 'aw 

Copyright Entry 

Ck.. A / V O S~ 

CLASS ck. XXc, No. 

t 3 X H 31 

COPY B. 



J 



TO MR. AND MRS. CHAS. B. FARISH 

MY DAUGHTER AND SON-IN-LAW 

AND MR. JOSHUA MOTTER 

MY PARTNER 

TO WHOM THESE NOTES WERE ORIGINALLY 

WRITTEN, THIS LITTLE BOOK 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 



When we left for our Mediterranean cruise, January 30, 1905, I had no 
idea of writing notes or publishing them. However, on the trip we found 
so many scenes of interest that are very different from what is seen in this 
country, or the well traveled paths of the ordinary European tourist, that I 
decided to write some discriptive letters of our journey to my daughter 
and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. B. Farish, and to my partner, Mr. 
Joshua Motter, with whom I have been closely associated in the whole- 
sale dry goods trade for the past thirty years. After our return, I had these 
letters type-written and gave a few copies to my friends. Many of them said 
they were interesting and instructive and urged me to have the notes pub- 
lished in book form. 

This accounts for the publication of this little book, which, I trust, 
will be read with pleasure by those with whom I am personally acquainted, 
also those who anticipate taking the same trip, as well as those who would 
like to go but may not have the opportunity to make this very interesting 
cruise. 

Yours sincerely, 

w. w. Wheeler. 




STEAMER MOI/fKE OB' HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE, ON WHICH 
WE MADE OUR CRUISE. 



Three Months in Foreign Lands. 



On January 30, 1905, Mrs. Wheeler, my son Webb and my- 
self, sailed from New York on the S. S. Moltke, of the Ham- 
burg-American Line, for a two months' cruise on the Mediterra- 
nean. We found the steamer first class in every respect, the 
crew numbered three hundred in all, and a fine set of men, com- 
petent and obliging; the table excellent; the cabins and whole 
boat kept clean and neat; the passenger list made up of three 
hundred and ten first-class passengers, no second-class or steer- 
age; all pleasant and agreeable, well educated people, seemed to 
be out for a regular picnic. 

After a favorable voyage, with no storms, we were awaken- 
ed early in the morning, February 7, 1905, by a great commo- 
tion and yelling outside our steamer. After hastily dressing we 
went out on deck to investigate, and found that during the night 
oursteamer had anchored in the Bay of Funchal, Madeira Island, 
and we were surrounded by the natives in their small row boats, 
and these naked boatmen were clamoring for the passengers to 
throw silver coin into the sea, that they might dive for it. They 
are expert divers and swimmers, and a silver coin tossed into the 
sea near them would invariably be fished out before it would 
sink very far. Some of them climbed to the highest deck on the 
boat, at least fifty or sixty feet above the water, and dived head 
foremost into the sea. 



We were delighted with the appearance of Funchal, viewed 
from the steamer deck. It is a city of 21,000 inhabitants, most- 
ly native Portuguese, a few English and Germans, and three 
Americans. The city lies on a half circle called a hay, but real- 
ly is the open sea. Large steamers anchor about half a mile 
from shore and you go to port on small tenders, or lighters. 
The land rises rather steep from the sea, so that the back ground 
of the city is a mountain about two thousand feet high. This 
gives one a clear view of the whole city from the steamer deck. 
The houses are built of white plaster, with red tile roofs. The 
whole country is covered with green vegetation of the kind which 
grows in tropical countries, consisting of palm, banana and mag- 
nolia trees, sugar cane (which is now being harvested), and an 
endless profusion of flowers in full bloom. It really looked like 
Paradise to us, who had just left a land covered with two feet of 
snow, and in the midst of vigorous winter. 

This whole island is one of the unique places of the earth. 
We landed in the midst of the city, which is built in the Spanish 
fashion, with narrow streets, which look like alleys to us, about 
twenty-five feet wide from the buildings ori one side to the build- 
ings on the other side. We took passage in a sled drawn by two 
small oxen, up to the cog-railroad station, fare fifty cents for 
four persons. A small boy barefooted, runs in front of this 
team, and the driver runs along on the off side, with a long pole 
and yells and prods the bullocks, as they call the oxen. They 
trot along at a good rapid gait. When we arrive at the cog- 
railroad station, which is very small, we pay for our ride, and 
give the driver a shilling extra, lie at once demands another 
shilling, and continues to demand more until we leave him, still 
claiming more. We now procure our tickets for the cog-rail- 

10 




SLEDS USED IN COASTING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, MADEIRA ISLAND. 



i 1 




PARTIAL VIEW OF THE NEW RKID HOTKL AND GARDENS AT 
MADKKIA ISLAND. 



way, price two shillings each, and take a ride up the mountain 
about two miles. This trip is the best of any ride on the island, 
as it gives one a perfect view of the scenery which covers the 
mountain sides. An immense amount of labor has been expend- 
ed here in the last five hundred years (the island was discovered 
1417 A. D.) in building retaining walls on the sides of the slopes 
to prevent the soil from running down into the sea. A rock 
wall is built, say twenty-five feet high, then the side hill is leveled 
up and planted to sugar cane or any other crop, or a dwelling 
house is built here, or palm trees planted, or banana trees or 
flowers. This will make a level plateau of from forty feet to a 
hundred feet wide. Then another wall is built similar to the first 
and so on nearly to the top of the mountain. At the top we 
found a Catholic Church two hundred years old, and a hotel 
perhaps about as old, but now provided with electric lights and 
water works. A delightful view can be had here of the city and 
the bay. We took lunch here and enjoyed it very much. The 
air seems most invigorating on the top of this mountain. 

Next we took our wonderful experience of a toboggan slide 
down the mountain to the city. The sleds carry three each, and 
are guided by two men, one on each. Each man has a rope tied 
to the front of the sled. You say your prayers, putting yourself 
in the hands of a merciful Providence and the two Portuguese, 
and slide two miles to the bottom, in ten minutes, over a road 
paved with very small cobble stones, with the two Portuguese 
yelling at each side. However, half way down they stop at a 
place where wine is sold, and beg for money to buy wine. As 
we were under obligations to them for saving our lives, we 
furnished the money for the wine, and finished our slide in safety. 



13 



It was a great experience, and enjoyed by us so much that we 
went back and repeated it next day. 

There are said to be fifty Catholic Churches on this island, 
while in the city there are several large public buildings, a hos- 
pital, and a few mission churches, also more poverty, distress 
and beggars than we have seen before, but we are told we'll see 
still more beggars when we arrive at Egypt. The island of Madeira 
is celebrated for its Madeira Wine, which is its chief export. 
They make an excellant quality of cane sugar, which has the 
best flavor and is the sweetest of any sugar we ever tasted. 
They also make laces, embroideries, wicker chairs, and baskets, 
and barely exist, in this delightful climate, where very little 
clothing is needed, and fruit and fish can be had with very little 
labor. There are no horses or wheeled vehicles of any kind on 
the island (except a very few used by the officials and fire depart- 
ment.) Everything is transported on sleds, and when they pull 
a little hard, a greased rag is thrown under the runners, which 
makes them slide freely over the streets, which are all paved 
with very small cobble stones. The hotels are fairly good, the 
hospitals very poor, the stores seem to us very primitive indeed, 
but are probably as good as the trade demands. We visited the 
Methodist Episcopal Mission here, and met Mr. Nine, in charge 
They have a very good location, facing the Public Park (which is 
a beautiful place.) We asked Brother Nine what progress he 
was making. He said they had been here for twenty-five years 
and had made a little progress, but he has a very poor field of 
labor, as this is a Latin Catholic country. We spent two days 
very pleasantly at Funchal, seeing many things that are different 
from any other part of the world. 



15 




GIPSY CHILDREN, GRANADA. 



We arrived at Cadiz, Spain, Friday morning:, February 10, 
1905, in fair weather, a beautiful morning - , and the city is a very 
fine sight, viewed from the ship's deck. We loaded our three 
hundred and ten tourists in one little steamer, as we were an- 
chored about a mile out, on account of shallow water. We were 
very fortunate (by the persuasion of Thos. Cook & Son) in 
being passed through the Spanish custom house without examin- 
ation, and took a carriage drive to the Cathedral, which is a 
grand structure, built about two hundred years ago, very 
large and very high, ornamented with many frescoes and paint- 
ings. Then we made a long drive through the city, stopping at 
another small church to view the pictures, then driving through 
the parks to the hotel for lunch, which was relished by our hun- 
gry crowd. The hotel was very clean and inviting. The streets 
are from ten to twenty feet wide, and usually crooked, but they 
have frequent little parks, or open spaces, to give the people a 
chance to breathe. 

The City of Cadiz is probably three thousand years old. 
They build here altogether with stone, brick and cement, and 
plaster all their houses, both outside and inside, with a very hard 
cement, which looks like stone. Then they whitewash the walls 
outside at least once a year, which makes them look fresh and 
comparatively new, without regard to their great age, but the 
floor tiles and granite streets, while kept in good repair, show 
the wear of centuries. It is built compactly, having no vacant 
lots for sale. The original city wall, at least that part which we 
saw, was about thirty feet high. The people are a fair, average 
lot, a little lower in intelligence than the French, but reminding 
a stranger of the French, without their politeness. 



i/ 



We left Cadiz about two P. M. for Seville, seventy-two 
miles by rail, and made the journey in four hours, because we 
had an express train. If we had been on an ordinary train, 1 
don't know when we would have reached Seville. The country 
traversed is a flat plain, but little above sea level, and for several 
miles out from Cadiz, is devoted to salt making-. They have 
half the country dug up, making shallow pools for the salt water 
to flow in from the sea, then let it evaporate with the sun's heat 
and gather the dry salt, stacking it in pyramids perhaps forty 
feet high, which we saw scattered over the landscape as thick as 
hay stacks in a meadow. Also, they have factories here where 
they refine this salt. 

We next come to that part of country devoted to the olive 
trees, and still further from the sea come the orange trees, which 
are everywhere covered with yellow oranges, and look beautiful. 
The olive trees have a very aged appearance. They are about 
the size of a very old and twisted apple tree, and in fact they are 
usually a hundred years old, or more, and most of the country in 
Spain, which we saw, is planted to olive trees or orange trees. 
They cultivate the ground between these trees, raising wheat, 
potatoes, peas and garden stuff. They are planting many of the 
small crops now, and seem to be busy in the fields, that is, in 
their way of working, say ten or fifteen men in a bunch, to plant 
seed or hoe the weeds down. They use very primitive plows, 
simply a crooked stick with a small steel plow blade fastened to 
it, and a crooked stick for a handle. The plowing is very poorly 
done. The soil seems to be fairly productive, notwithstanding 
the ages it has been worn. They appear to use but little fertili- 
zer. Much of the land near the mountain is irrigated, and this 
part of the country appears to produce abundant crops. The 




PARTIAL VIEW OF THE COURT OF LIONS. AI.HAMHRA. 



wheat was sown last Fall, and is now about seven or eight inches 
high, and looks fine. 

We arrived at Seville about six P. M., and were driven at 
once to Hotel de Paris, where we had fairly good rooms, and 
the meals were fairly good, except breakfast. It seems the 
Spanish do not eat much breakfast, and we also did not eat 
much breakfast, because we could not, but lunch and dinner 
were quite good. We found that to be the case all through 
Spain, and a Spanish breakfast is not a recollection of pleasure 
with us. 

Seville is a city of about 200,000 population, and like Cadiz 
is compactly built, houses in the business portion three or four 
stories high, and in the residence portion about two stories high, 
though among the residences it is hard to tell how many 
stories they have, as they usually present a blank wall sur- 
face to the street, without any windows, and only the main 
door. They all open out into a court in the middle, and some of 
them have very beautiful courts, with palm trees, orange trees, 
flowers and fountains. Nearly all the houses are built of brick, 
plastered with cement. They look like stone. We saw here the 
grandest cathedral we have yet seen. It was about 500 feet long 
and 300 feet wide, 125 to 175 feet high, of Gothic style, with 
immense pillars ten feet thick, to carry the heavy tile roof. The 
tower is about 200 feet high. We climbed to the top, and had 
an excellent view of the surroundings, and the whole city. This 
tower, called the Gerelda Tower, was built by the Moors for an 
observation tower, and it commands a grand view. The Spanish 
use it for a bell tower. There are about thirty large bells hung 
here. Some of them almost split our ears when they rung, while 
we were beside them. We visited this cathedral in the morning 

21 



during; their service, while the grand org-an was making the 
most beautiful music. The org-an itself is seventy-five or a hundred 
feet high, and the volume of sound is properly adjusted to this 
great edifice. The cathedral was first built by the Romans, more 
than a thousand years ag-o. Part of the original building- is still 
standing-, but much of it was torn down and rebuilt by the Moors 
during- their occupation of Spain, and has again been rebuilt by 
the Spanish. There are a great many chapels along the side 
walls of this wonderful structure. 

Next we visited the Alcazar Palace and gardens. This pal- 
ace is built of rock, and is many centuries old. The inside wall 
decorations are stucco, colored in the Moorish style, like the 
Alhambra. The garden adjoining is very large, at least four or five 
acres, filled with fountains, tropical trees, flowers, beautiful walks 
and statuary. After viewing this delightful place we returned to 
our hotel for lunch, and again we went out in carriages to "do 
the city." We visited a very fine Catholic church, which is a 
part of and adjoining the hospital. This chapel is really a pic- 
ture gallery, and the best in Seville. Then we took a long drive 
through the public parks, along the river. They have a good 
electric street railway line, which is about two miles long, with 
many attractions at the end, in the way of restaurants, music, 
dancing pavillions, etc., quite like the Americans in this respect. 

This city of Seville is several miles from the sea, situated on 
a level plain, and very compactly built. Large sea-going steam- 
ers come to its wharves through a small river, and there is con- 
siderable shipping done here. The shops, or stores, are quite 
small, yet being a great number of them, they no doubt do a 
large volume of busines. They have a bull ring here, where they 
give the entertaining bull fights, but there was nothing doing in 

^3 




KING OF THK GYPSIES, GRANADA. 



the bull fights while we were there. The club houses which we 
passed appeared to be extravagantly furnished. 

To illustrate the slow way they do business: We went into 
one of their largest banks to get change for three pounds sterling 
gold, and it took the service of three men for ten minutes, to 
complete this small transaction. They have many clerks in this 
bank, but their business is so small that it would be considered 
almost nothing by an American bank. 

We left Seville for Granada on February 12, 1905. With 
our rapid express train we made the long run of 180 miles in nine 
hours, and here we were greatly pleased with all we saw. In 
fact, we think that the Alhambra is one of the greatest sights we 
shall see while on this cruise. It is situated on the top of a 
mountain, about two thousand feet above the surrounding coun- 
try. We could see the snow on the mountains, so close by that 
we thought to walk over to the snow in half an hour. On 
inquiry we learned that the snow-capped mountains were 
distant twenty-four miles, a part of the Sierra Nevada range, and 
eleven thousand feet high. 

We had good rooms at the Washington Irving Hotel, which 
is on the top of the Granada, and quite close to the wonderful 
Alhambra Castle. We will not undertake to describe the Al- 
hambra. Please read Washington Irving's "Tales of Alhambra" 
and you will get the great castle in detail. The whole scene is 
very beautiful. The day was perfect, and we enjoyed it to the 
fullest extent. The plains of the Granada are all irrigated with 
the water from the mountains — canals and ditches everywhere. 
Great care is given to the crops here, and this part of Spain is 
very productive. The city has 85,000 population. Part of it is 
very old, with crooked, narrow streets, and part of it is quite 

25 



modern, with well filled glass front stores, and looks more like 
an American city than any we have seen in Spain, and has good, 
wide streets. Another part belongs to the Gypsies. They are a 
hard lot, and live mostly in caves. They are poverty stricken 
beggars of the worst class. Men, women and children never 
cease to beg as long as they can keep up with your carriage. 
We went to the St. Bruno Cathedral, which is the richest in 
beauty of inside construction of anything we have yet seen in 
this land of extravagant cathedrals. The doors and walls were 
inlaid with ivory, gold, silver and tortoise shell, all worked in to- 
gether with mother-of-pearl, and defy my powers of description. 
Next we drove to the Cathedral of Granada. It is very large 
and well constructed, and about three hundred years old. Here 
we saw the two leaden caskets which contain the bones of King 
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. All the cathedrals in Spain are 
filled with paintings, the best and most prized being done by 
Murillo, who was a Spaniard. We are told that Spain has the 
best art in the way of paintings, in the world, except Italy. No 
doubt this is true. 

On the morning of the 14th of February, we left Granada 
for Malaga. The run was made in six hours (about one hun- 
dred and twenty miles) through the most beautiful mountain 
scenery, until we came to Malaga. Here the lower country lies 
flat in beautiful grape-fields. They cut these grapevines back to 
the roots every year, and at present they are about six inches 
high, and the leaves are just putting out. They are planted in 
rows like corn, and cover the whole country near Malaga, in fact 
they do not have much of any income in that vicinity except 
from grape culture, and they excel the world in their particular 
industry. 

27 








•&$ sp"^^^^ v 1 , 




Malaga is a pretty little city on the Mediterranean, has a 
good harbor and much shipping. We did not stop in the city, 
hut went direct to our good steamer, Moltke, which was waiting 
for us, and were glad to get back to the ship after our five days 
trip in Spain. It seemed almost like getting home again. The 
meals we got on board were certainly much better than we got 
in Spain. 

After a sail of one day and one night, we reached Algiers, 
Africa, which has an excellent harbor for the largest vessels. 
We anchored close to the wharf and went ashore at once. We 
were greatly surprised to find Algiers, or at least three-fourths of 
it, a regular booming city, modern and up to-date in every way. 
The French have made it a great city in the last few years, and 
and are still building at a rapid rate. The new part is built like 
the best buildings in Paris, large store blocks, about six stories 
high, with fine plate glass fronts, and good wide streets, with 
street cars, electric lights, and everything modern. The conductor 
of the street car is an Arab and speaks French. His dress is a 
pair of baggy trousers, a night shirt made of blue denims, and a 
turban made of unbleached cotton cloth. You pay your fare and 
he carefully writes out a receipt and hands it to you. The travel 
is not so great and he has plenty of time to do this. The city is 
built on several hills, or small mountains, and rises rapidly from 
the sea. It looks beautiful from the sea, and quite as beautiful 
from the land. The French language is spoken here, and the 
French money is in use. We went to a hoodoo kind of a show 
at night, the worst we've ever seen, but the natives and perform- 
ers applauded as though it was good. Our steamer friends, Dr. 
Heman Brown, of Chicago, and Mr. Silas Hyman, of Xew Or- 
leans, gave me a dinner party at night, to celebrate my sixtieth 

29 



birthday, which we much enjoyed, at the "Hotel Continental," 
which is a very fine hotel, located on the top of a small moun- 
tain from which we get a grand view, and on this momentous 
occasion I have it brought to my mind more forcibly than ever 
before, that 1 am greatly blessed in having been born in America, 
"the land of the free and the home of the brave." Surely there 
is no other country like it on earth to-day. Do not forget to 
thank the Lord every day of your life that you are an American. 
On the morning of February 16, 1905, we took carriages 
for a drive over the city, visiting the public parks and the Gov- 
ernor's Palace, which is situated on the top of the mountain, 
where a very fine view is had of the city and the bay. Then 
we drove through the business part of the new city, and next to the 
"Arab Quarter," or the old part of the city, and here a sight met 
our view which was entirely new to us. This part of the city is 
made up of Arabs, Bedouins, Negroes, Turks. Jews and many 
others, of many kinds, the Arab Mohammedans being most in ev- 
idence. They are dressed in coarse, unbleached cotton cloth, usual- 
ly very dirty and wrapped around them in such a way as to cover 
most of their bodies, their legs and feet being left bare, except 
a light pair of slippers on their feet. They are so filthy and dirty 
in appearance that you feel like keeping as far away from them as 
possible. The whole mixed lot were busy bartering or taking their 
purchases to their homes. The Arab Mohammedan women wear 
the same coarse white or unbleached cotton for clothing, and 
when on the street wear wide, baggy trousers, and cover their 
heads and faces, except a strip across the face at the eyes. The 
Turks have little shops, about eight or ten feet square, and sit 
cross-legged on the floor, some smoking, some making shoes, 
some making baskets, selling bread, meat, fruit or food of any 

31 




STATUE OF COLUMBUS, GENOA. 



kind. This was to us a great curiosity, and while not pleasant to 
the eye, we would not have missed it. Xext we visited the Arab 
Mohammedan Mosque, where we had to put on slippers over 
our shoes before we could go in. The Mohammedans themselves 
just slip off their shoes at the door and go in barefooted. It is a 
dirty, foul place, and gives one the impression that he is in a good 
place to catch some infectious disease. There was not much to see 
on the inside; however, the people who worship here are very pov- 
erty stricken, and not able to have an expensive place to worship* 
like the Catholics. After lunch we went to the French Cathedral 
on the top of the highest mountain, near the city. A grand 
view is had from this point, and our carriage horses labored for 
nearly an hour to bring us to the top. This is called the "Cathe- 
dral La Afrique," and here they have a black Madonna. Xo 
doubt it is just as good as any other color, but it is the only 
Madonna we have seen done in black. However, she has a great 
reputation as a healer, and there are a great many crutches and 
canes left here in the cathedral by persons who have been instantly 
healed. As they did not need their crutches, they simply left 
them behind. We did not see any one healed, but saw the black 
Madonna, and the crutches. Algiers is a great shipping point. 
We saw a dozen large freight vessels loading and unloading at 
the dock, and an immense amount of freight on the dock ready 
for shipment. The chief article of export is wine, and they 
handle a large amount of it, in large casks, which hold about five 
barrels each. This is the only shipping port of any importance 
in Xorth Africa, except Alexandria. There is a great amount of 
wealth here, and many very beautiful villas in the suburbs. It 
is the finest climate in Xorthern Africa, but was chilly and cold 
the day we were there. 

S3 



We arrived at Genoa, Italy, on Saturday, February, 18, 1905, 
after a delightful sail of two nights and one day from Algiers, 
Africa. Genoa is a very old city, built on a fine, circular bay, 
with good breakwater, the best docks we have seen, and deep 
water. Vessels of deep draught come up to 1 the docks. It is 
said to be the greatest shipping port on the Mediterranean. 
To-day there are probably one hundred vessels of all kinds in port. 
It is also a great coaling station, but the coal here is very soft, 
about three-quarters of it slack. We would hardly use such, 
coal, still, it is the best to be had here, and it is in great demand. 
The city claims 235,000 population, and is a great place for busi- 
ness. The retail stores are up-to-date in styles, and have fine 
plate glass show windows. The people are apparently much 
better looking and more like Americans than the Italians we see 
in the United States. We took carriages to see the cemetery, 
Campo Santa, which is quite a curiosity to us. Situated close to 
the heart of the city, it has a row of vaults, or what is used for 
vaults, running around all four sides, making a kind of street, 
and in this place is buried all the wealthy class. These vaults are 
not built like ours, but the dead are laid on shelves, on the side 
of this street, or under the marble floor. This place is built like 
a long corridor, or hall, about twenty feet wide, and covered 
with a marble roof. In walking through, it appears like a long 
gallery, with marble statuary on the two sides. Their custom is 
to make a marble statue of the dead, and it is made to represent 
the dead, as he or she appeared just before death. Some are 
represented as actually in the throes of death, and present a 
horrible appearance, but most of the statues show the persons 
as they appeared just before death, while in health. In one 
instance the father, who was dead, was represented by his statue 

35 



as he apparently appeared just after death, then two other busts 
were made exactly like the son and daughter, who are still living, 
showing them apparently weeping. One old woman had a 
statue made of herself, with her good clothes on (she was a mar- 
ket woman). It cost her two thousand dollars. She earned her 
money in the market, but was very anxious to appear well after 
death, so attended to all the details herself, and she makes a very 
creditable appearance, that is, considering her station in life, and 
what means she had at her command. The poorer classes are 
buried in rows on the inside, or in the central part of the ceme- 
tery, and as it is now full in this part, whenever a poor person dies 
they dig up one that has been buried a long time and dump his 
bones in some regular dumping place, to make room for the new 
occupant. This is a great economy of land, and as long as they 
follow this plan, they will of course have room enough. Next 
we visited the cathedral, which was built eight hundred years 
ago. It looks rather old, but will probably be good for a thous- 
and years more, with ordinary repairs, being built of marble, 
which is plentiful here. It has a large, roomy and cold appear- 
ance, like many of the cathedrals we have seen, and the priests 
are here paid by the city. The public picture gallery was one of 
the palaces, but was given to the City of Genoa, and is now full 
of paintings, many of them by celebrated artists. Then we went 
to the palace of one of the most wealthy citizens of Italy. It is 
very fine, and has been built within the past century. The father 
of the present owner was the builder, and donated his means to 
help the City of Genoa. He built a great part of the sea walls and 
breakwaters of the harbor of Genoa, spending more than a million 
dollars in this way, for the benefit of the public. This family also 
owns a beautiful palace at Pigli, a small town about five miles 

37 



out from Genoa. We drove out there this morning-, and viewed 
the gardens, as they are called (we would call them the park,) 
surrounding the palace. These gardens are very beautiful and 
very extensive. Many hundreds of thousands of dollars must have 
been spent in beautifying these grounds, and they are still doing 
more work, to build walks, lakes, bridges, underground caves 
and grottoes, and the must charming summer houses, filled with 
statuary and works of art, and all the most ornamental trees and 
shrubs, being transplanted here from almost every part of the 
world. It is certainly very pleasant to view these grounds. 

After a stay of two days at Genoa, we sailed on Monday 
morning to Villa Fronche, which is ten miles west of Monte 
Carlo, and five miles east of Nice, in the middle of the far famed 
Riviera. All these towns are connected by steam railways, also 
by electric street cars, or tramways. We left the steamer Tues- 
day morning and went by street car to Nice, which is a beautiful 
city, with large retail stores of all kinds, up to Paris in styles, 
very beautiful gardens and parks, and a great health resort for all 
Europe. After a stroll through the principal streets, we took 
the tramway to Monte Carlo, over the most beautiful road for 
scenery we have seen. We took lunch at the Hotel de Paris at 
Monte Carlo, and then visited the Casino. There a sight was 
before us which is not equaled of its kind in the world elsewhere, 
and for those who love to gamble, the opportunity is unlimited. 
The Casino is very large, outside built of native rock, and inside 
built of marble, with the finest paintings in every available space. 
The hall is more beautiful than most of the palaces in Europe, but 
the interest of every one is centered on the games. There are ten 
double roulette tables and four card-game tables. While we were 
there we guessed that there were a hundred players around each 

39 




EGYPTIAN WOMEN, WORKING IN THE FIELDS'. 



table, which would make fourteen hundred, playing- all the time, 
and twice as many standing crowded around the tables, trying to 
get an opportunity to play, or looking on to see the games. We 
were among the latter class, as we do not play the games. There 
were to be seen here almost every nationality on the globe, both 
men and women, in fact, there were more women players than 
men, and they were of all classes and descriptions, old ladies well 
dressed and poorly dressed, young women who were handsome 
and others the reverse, some clean in appearance and some 
unclean in looks, all intent on the play; also men of all classes 
and nationalities. This was in the afternoon, about three o'clock. 
After six in the evening it is expected that every man who enters 
this gambling hall will wear the regulation evening dress, and 
still the tables are even more crowded then than in the day time. 
It is estimated that about eleven million dollars are brought to 
this place every year, and about one million dollars taken away. 
They have a cemetery here which is well filled with the unlucky 
players who have committed suicide after having lost all their 
means at these gaming tables. To watch the expression of the 
players' faces is of much interest to the onlookers. After view- 
ing this famous gambling hall for an hour, we strolled outside 
through the most beautiful grounds that can be made, in this 
most favored situation. This is probably the most beautiful place 
in Europe. The whole town, which may contain a population 
of ten thousand or more, at this season of the year, is owned and 
ruled by the Prince of Monaco. He has a beautiful palace, and 
maintains a standing army of forty soldiers, besides his small 
army of uniformed police, and a great many other employes of 
all kinds. The Prince pays all the taxes and expenses of the city, 
of every nature, builds the finest streets and roads to be found 

4i 



anywhere, and has ample surplus to put in bank. The towns 
which we visited on the Riviera are most picturesque, made so 
by nature and greatly improved by man. The rocky Alps here 
dip into the blue Mediterranean, in many places coming- to the 
water's edge, so that the roads which connect the towns have to 
be cut into the solid rock, or tunneled through them. Then there 
are a great many small bays and many small valleys between the 
mountains, where these towns and cities are located. The gardens 
are filled with tropical palm trees, and all classes of vegetation 
grown in tropical countries. The hills and mountains are very steep 
and many hill-side slopes are terraced up with rock walls to make 
little plateaus for flower gardens, market gardens and shade trees. 
A great many very beautiful villas are scattered all through 
these mountain sides. The roadways are the best, being built of 
rock, and well paved between the towns as they are in the cities. 
The people are generally a good looking lot. This is French ter- 
ritory, but many of the inhabitants are English, German, Italian, 
Russian, etc. We left the Riviera with the feeling that we would 
come back at the first opportunity, to enjoy the many beautiful 
scenes again. To see this place properly one should speak French, 
then locate at a good hotel in Nice, where the rates are high, but 
not so exorbitant as at Monte Carlo, and stay several days or 
weeks, or as long as your money holds out. 

Syracuse, situated on the island of Sicily, was our next stop- 
ping place. We arrived here Thursday, February 23, 1905. While 
on the way we passed through the Strait of Messina, which 
has a narrow, deep channel, with mountains on both sides. Also, 
we had a grand view of Mt. Aetna, for several hours. This great 
mountain (an extinct volcano), eleven thousand feet above sea 
level, covered with snow all the year round, was the greatest 

43 



-/: 







OBELISK AT HEUOPOUS. 



mountain sight we ever expect to see. Our steamer was five 
miles out to sea, and the mountain is about twenty-five miles 
inland, making- it about thirty miles away, but it looked quite 
near to us. We were fortunate in having- a clear sky, and the 
sun lit up the snow-clad peak so that it stood out very plainly, 
without a cloud to mar the view. Other mountain peaks are 
higher, but are there any higher than Mt. Aetna which are so 
plainly in sight from the sea ? 

Syracuse was founded centuries B. C, and is the oldest in 
appearance of any city we have yet seen. We viewed a cathedral 
here which was originally a heathen temple, the Temple of Diana, 
and changed to a cathedral by the Romans. This cathedral 
was said to be built three hundred B. C, and probably it was, 
as it has a very aged appearance, though it is in good repair. 
Most of the buildings seem to be about two thousand years old. 
We visited the ruins of the catacombs. They are so old that 
there is scarcely a vestige of the great number of human bodies 
left. They are hewn out of the solid rock, and run a long way 
under ground, being built like regular streets, with places in the 
walls to lay the dead. They are three stories down, that is. you 
first see one set of catacombs, which covers a large area like 
streets, then you go downstairs and find another set of catacombs 
and streets, and under that a third set of catacombs and streets, 
all cut out of the solid rock, also there is a chapel built here. A 
priest lights a lamp and leads you down many stairs cut in the 
rock. When we come to the chapel, which is a part of the Cata- 
combs, they showed us four large arches, one on each of its four 
sides. They were built for memorials to St. Matthew, St. Mark, 
St. Luke and St. John. The whole is called the Christian Cata- 
combs. We also visited the ruins of a Greek theatre, the large 

45 



circular rows of seats being- cut into the rock. This theatre would 
seat about five thousand persons. Also a Roman amphitheatre, 
which is very much like the ruins of the great amphitheatre at 
Rome. Part of it was cut in the solid rock. In some parts rock 
walls and seats were built. It is a complete circle, perhaps five 
hundred feet in diameter, with seats rising on all sides, about 
twenty rows of seats running all the way round. The central 
part, or arena, is now covered with grass. Also we viewed the 
ancient Greek quarries, where the rock has been taken out over 
several acres, and cut down, perhaps, a hundred feet. The bot- 
tom of this space is now used as a garden, and we saw some very 
large lemon trees, with their golden fruit ripe and ready to 
pick. Also we saw a cave which had been cut in the rock, about 
one hundred feet deep, two hundred feet long and seventy feet 
wide, in the widest part, built for a prison for Greek slaves. 
This city had, at one time, 400,000 inhabitants, but now it has 
only about 30,000, and they are very poverty stricken. We 
visited the Museum and saw a great many antiquities which 
have been found at different times in the vicinity, consisting 
of marble statues, all of which have been broken, also many 
coins of great variety, some made of gold, others of silver, but 
mostly of copper. Here we saw old Mt. Aetna again, stand- 
ing boldly out against the sky. It was very beautiful in the 
soft red light of an Italian sunset. ( )ur next stop was the 
ancient historical island of Malta, which is now a British fort- 
ress. They have six thousand British soldiers stationed here, 
and five British war vessels were in the harbor at Malta the 
day we were there. The language spoken is both English and 
Maltese. The name of the principal sea port is Yaletta. The 
harbor is very good and deep enough for the largest vessels. 

47 



They do considerable shipping: here, considering- that the island 
is only sixty miles in circumferance. The whole island is very 
nearly all nick, and the walls of the fortifications are nearly a 
hundred feet high on the side facing- the harbor. As the history 
of the island dates back nearly three thousand years, they have 
had plenty of time to build rock walls and building's. We never 
saw a place where there are so many rock walls. We took a car- 
riage and drove to the old town, which is situated near the cen- 
ter of the island. The whole country is densely populated, and 
is divided into small lots of one or two acres each, and each lot 
is surrounded by a stone wall eight or ten feet high. The ground 
seems to to yield good crops. We saw many fields of pulse, a 
coarse forage crop used for hay, which was very green and luxu- 
riant, as large as a full grown crop of clover, and we were there 
in February. We visited the catacombs, which are about a 
thousand years old, and cut into the solid rock under ground. 
These rock places of burial are so old that even the bones of the 
bodies once placed in them have decayed, or been removed, as 
there are no bones in them now. These catacombs are like those 
we saw at Syracuse, being tunnels cut in the solid rock, with places 
cut in the side walls of the tunnels to lay the dead. Xext, we 
visited the Cathedral of St. Paul, who was ship-wrecked on this 
island. They have a very good picture of St. Paul and his com- 
rades and the ship, taken just as the ship went on the rocks. The 
Bible tells us they were all saved. Then we drove back to the 
city and visited the Cathedral of St. John, which is very old, but 
is kept in good condition. Xext we visited the Cathedral of 
Bones. The entrance to the place of bones is through the 
Cathedral, then down a long stairway to an underground chapel 
which is decorated with human bones. They are arranged on the 

49 



walls in symmetrical order, but to me they present a grewsome 
picture, and one that is not pleasant to see. The general appear- 
ance of the whole city and country is strikingly like the pictures 
we see of Palestine. There is not a tree on the island except the 
fruit trees, palm trees and ornamental trees in gardens. All the 
houses are square, flat topped stone building's; you see no roof, 
as it is lower than the outside walls, and in the houses outside of 
the towns, they usually have no windows at all. However, the 
English have built some houses with windows like we have, also 
the English have nearly completed a fine large building for a 
school, and it is the first school building we have yet seen in our 
travels. This will give an idea of the dense ignorance that per- 
vades the masses in all these countries. We also visited the 
Governor's country palace and gardens. These gardens are very 
large, and the best kept of any gardens we have seen, having fine 
walks and fountains, with swans swimming in them, and the 
most beautiful lemon and orange trees, also a great profusion of 
palm trees and other tropical trees, flowers and vegetables. The 
soil in this garden is fertile, all the trees and other vegetation 
were growing luxuriantly, and made a beautiful sight. The 
donkey and the goat are the best friends that the human race 
have in this country. Most of the carts are drawn by donkeys. 
They are quite small, many of them are not much larger than a 
large dog, but they tug a cart along with quite a heavy load. 
There are no cattle here to speak of. all the milk and butter they 
have comes from goats, and we do not relish goat milk or goat 
butter. The native Maltese people are dark, some of them 
nearly black, but most of them are just a little darker than the 
Spanish. They seem to be good workers. They wear no shoes, 
but a kind of sandal with only shoe soles, strapped to their feet. 



5i 




SAILBOAT ON THE NILE, LOADED WITH SUGAR CANE. 



An author could write a very interesting book, giving a history 
of Malta's past and present. 

After a pleasant sail of three nights and two days across the 
blue Mediterranean, we arrived at Alexandria, Egypt, Monday 
morning, February 2j, 1905. It is a wonderful place for busi- 
ness in the way of shipping, has a large harbor and a great many 
ships from all parts of the world. To one who is not accustomed 
to the ways of the Alexandrian Arabs, he will be glad when he 
gets his luggage safely off the steamer and on the train. The 
hubbub that these Arabs make is beyond description. There 
are about ten times as many of them as are needed, and all yell- 
ing in their own tongue (Arabic) to carry your luggage. The 
weather is always warm and dry in Egypt, and the most of the 
laboring class wear very little clothing. A long blue night shirt 
and a cloth turban is the dress of most of the men. Very few of 
them have any other garments, and no shoes. After getting our 
luggage on the train, and paying six Arabs to do this small 
amount of work, we took a short drive over the city, which is 
like all the delta of the Xile, perfectly flat, having been made in 
the past ages by the silt washed down by the Xile. Alexandria 
is of two widely different styles of architecture. The old part is 
built of stone and mortar, with streets ten to twenty feet wide, 
rock streets, no sidewalks, and populated with about the dirtiest 
lot of Arabs, Turks and Turkish women that are to be found. 
Their stalls, for the sale of all classes of goods, are about five feet 
square, and that is large enough for their kind of business. The 
new part, that has been built since the English have occupied the 
country, is much like the streets of Paris, well built, with streets 
as wide as ours, fine stores and office buildings. 



53 



We left Alexandria at 1 1:45 for Cairo, 125 miles distant, and 
were delighted with the country all the way. It is all flat, made 
so hy the Nile, and irrigated by the Xile, and seems to be the 
most fertile of any part of the earth. It is densely populated 
with Arabs, black buffalo cows, donkeys, goats and camels. The 
people live in small towns, their houses being built of black, sun- 
dried brick, covered with a kind of coarse corn stalks for a roof, 
and are one story high. The people in these small towns go out 
to work in the fields in bunches of twenty or thirty. They do 
not like to work alone, or any other way, as for that, but as there 
are so many of them they keep the whole country well tilled. It 
raises wonderfully big crops, mostly cotton, wheat, potatoes and 
a coarse kind of grass, called pulse. A large crop of cotton was 
raised here last year, and is now being taken to market on the 
backs of camels. Many date palms dot the surface of the country 
in all directions, and with the beautiful green fields make it to 
my eyes one of the most beautiful landscapes to be seen anywhere 
in the world, in the agricultural districts. The date palms grow 
usually from forty to fifty feet high, with a tuft of leaves at the 
top, like a feather duster. They have no branches or leaves 
except at the top. 

On arrival at Cairo we went directly to the hotel Continental. 
There are several good hotels in Cairo. The Savoy, which is 
new and said to be the best, the Shepherds is very large and gets 
the big crowds, the Continental is very good and a little more 
quiet, with many others fairly good for Egypt. At breakfast 
we asked for bacon and egg, our usual breakfast, but the waiter 
said, "No, will you have an omelet and coffee ?" As we had to 
have that or nothing, we cheerfully took what we could get, and 
complied with the ways of the land. Their lunch and dinner are 

55 




W. \V. WHEELER ON THE GREAT PYRAMID CHEOPS. 



very good. Egypt is a very fine place as regards climate, that is 
if you like a warm, dry climate. We know today just what kind 
of weather it will he to-morrow, the next day and so on. "It 
never rains" in Egypt. The weather is warm to-day, it will he 
a little warmer to-morrow, and so continue until mid-sum- 
mer. We took carriages to see the sights of Cairo. About one 
third of the city has been recently built under English rule, and 
that part is up-to-date in appearance, with wide streets and 
modern built houses. There is much wealth and many beautiful 
homes in the city, and stores and shops to please the American 
or English tourist, but the other two-thirds is strictly Egyptian, 
with very narrow streets, ten to twenty feet wide, very densely 
populated, and full of the most dirty herd of Arabs, Turks, Jews, 
Armenians and Africans, of all shades of color, from the blackest 
to nearly white. Many of the shops and bazars are very small, 
and have only a few articles of the kind selected by tourists, 
called antiques, while many others are occupied by men who 
make shoes, or clothing of their kind, or baskets, etc. The prices 
in the English quarter are usually like American or English, one 
price only, but in the native shops and stores they ask a price 
which they never expect to get, and usually take what you offer 
them, after much contention, and then you find, when you get 
back to the hotel, that you have paid too much for the article. 
W r e visited the old Mosque which was built over a thousand 
years ago, and is now being rebuilt. It is not much to see, 
except that it is very large and old. Next we stopped at the 
large Mosque which is now in use. This is a very fine building, 
on the top of the only hill in the city, with a beautiful 
dome, very high and large, with two minarets, or high 
pinnacles, for the Mohammedans to call the faithful to 

57 



prayer, which they do five times a clay. The inside is well 
furnished with rugs, and frescoes and painting's on the walls. 
It is about 400 feet long- and 125 feet wide, built three hundred 
years ago, with very thick walls, entirely of rock. In fact there 
are no buildings in Cairo except rock and plaster, all fire proof. 
Adjoining the Mosque is the large, circular court, with high 
walls surrounding it, with parapets, where the reigning monarch, 
many years ago, invited to a great dinner, four hundred influen- 
tial men, called Mamelukes, and when they were inside, set his 
soldiers on the walls to firing at them, until all were killed 
except one, and he did not get very far away. They did not 
hesitate to do any thing in those days, to accomplish whatever 
they desired. After lunch we drove about five miles into the 
country to Heliopolis, to view the only remaining obelisk in 
Cairo. It is 4200 years old, and seems in as good shape to-day 
as though it was fifty years old, about ninety feet high, very 
much like Cleopatra's needle, now in Xew York Central Park, 
but in much better condition, built of one solid piece of red 
granite. The figures and inscriptions are still fresh and clearly 
read. This was the ancient Egyptian place of learning, and is 
the very identical place where Moses received his education, as 
well as all other educated men of those times. On the way, we 
viewed a very old sycamore, a gnarled tree now enclosed by a 
fence, where tradition says that the Virgin Mary hid the infant 
Christ in the hollow of its trunk, when a spicier wove a web over 
the Infant to protect him from being found by the soldiers of 
Herod, the wicked king. Also a fountain, near this tree, the 
water of which was originally brackish and unfit to drink, but 
after the Virgin had used this water for the infant Christ it 
became sweet and good. To prove this we drank some of the 

59 



water, and it is excellent. Xext day we went out about fifteen 
miles to view the ruins of Memphis, the oldest city in the world, 
also the ruins of Sakarah and the Pyramids of Sakarah. There are 
eleven pyramids here, built of brick, much smaller than the large 
pyramids at Cairo. ( )ur party left Cairo at eight in the morn- 
ing, and had the most delightful trip up the Nile for fifteen miles, 
in a small steamer. We landed and took donkeys for a ride 
six miles in the country, to the ruins. It was our first experience 
on donkeys, and a great novelty to us, but we found them good 
travelers and strong, with a native boy running along behind 
with a big stick to beat the donkey, and good lungs to yell, we 
made very good progress, usually in single file. We saw the 
two fallen and broken statues of Rameses the Great, at Memphis. 
They are exactly like the photographs we have seen. One is 
made of red granite and is as good as new, except where it is 
broken. The other is made of limestone, and not quite so good 
as the one made of granite. The statues are, or were originally, 
probably forty or fifty feet high, made of one solid block of stone. 
Think of the great amount of labor expended in bringing these 
huge statues several hundred miles from the nearest quarries. 
Then we hurried along, two hours further ride to the "Tombs of 
the Sacred Bulls." These are built in long tunnels, cut deep into 
the mountain in the solid rock. We went into the mountain at 
least a quarter of a mile, the course dipping down lower as we 
went. Here are tombs of twenty-four sacred bulls. Some of 
them are very much like the sarcophagus of Napoleon at Paris, 
about the same size, made of large blocks of red granite, about 
12x20 feet and 10 or 12 feet high. All these huge blocks of granite 
stowed away in these tunnels, which are cut into the limestone 
rocks, were brought from quarries five hundred miles distant. 

61 



They are in as good condition to-day as when they were placed 
there, more than four thousand years ago. All this was done for 
the remains of an animal (asacred(?) bull) which these poor 
idolaters worshiped as God. When this country was afterwards 
conquered by the Romans, they ransacked every one of these 
tombs for the gold and silver and precious stones which were 
buried with these bulls. After this we visited the Tombs of the 
Caliphs, which have only recently been excavated, but they are 
not as good or as deep as the tombs of the bulls. Then we made 
a wild dash, on our donkeys, for the boat, which was six miles 
distant, and the sun extremely hot. We made the trip in good 
time, and down the river very pleasantly in our little steamer, 
with beautiful views on both sides of the river, to Old Cairo 
again. 

On Thursday morning, March 2, 1905, we drove out five 
miles to the great pyramids near Cairo; about five miles out, is 
also the great Pyramid Cheops and several others smaller, as well 
as the Sphinx. These are considered among the greatest sights 
of Egypt. Some of our party climbed to the top of Cheops, 
with the assistance of the guides. We all viewed the Sphinx 
with much pleasure. It is exactly like the photographs you have 
seen. Also we viewed a granite temple, only a few yards from 
the Sphinx. It is built of red granite, which never decays. This 
temple is over four thousand years old, and was for centuries 
covered with sand: it has been uncovered only a few years. It is 
in a good state of preservation, but the ruthless Romans, while 
here, tried to destroy it, and broke many of the stones which 
formed the roof, and some of the upright pillars. It was so well 
built that they failed to destroy it. The Romans then built some 
of their own work, of brick, adjoining this temple, and the Roman 

63 



structures are long since in almost total decay. After having 
our lunch at the Mena Hotel, near the pyramids, and a first-class 
good lunch it was, we were driven hack to the city, and took a 
look at the great Egyptian Museum. Here we saw a large num- 
ber of historical antiques and curios gathered and displayed in 
good shape, for the henefit and education of the whole world. It 
will pay any one who visits Egypt to spend a day in the Cairo 
Museum, to see the vast collection of statues, the mummies, the 
coins, the marble slabs and inscriptions, the jewelry and beaten 
gold, the scarabs and the Village Sheik, an excellent wooden 
statue, about the most life-like of them all, also a thousand other 
rare antiques, not for sale, but simply displayed for the benefit of 
the public. Cairo is a city of half a million population, and one 
of the most interesting in the world. ( )ne could spend a month 
there and then not know all about it. We left Cairo Thursday 
night for Luxor, by train, and we were very agreeably surprised 
at the fine sleeping cars they gave us and in which we made the 
trip quite comfortably. 

We arrived at Luxor Friday morning, March 3, and went 
direct to our steamer. The Seraphis, which was our home for the 
next six days. We were particularly fortunate in getting this 
little steamer for the exclusive use of our party of thirteen. The 
state rooms, bath rooms and dining room were large and pleas- 
ant, the meals excellent, the captain, steward and servants were 
most pleasant and obliging. Our state room was on the upper 
deck, which was much to our liking. In fact, the whole arrange- 
ment for a steamer trip on the Xile could hardly be more sati- 
factory, and we enjoyed every hour of it. The weather, while 
very hot in the sun, was pleasant while in the the shade on the 
steamer. The view from the deck as we were steaming up the 

65 



river was very interesting. The Nile valley here is about three or 
four miles wide and under a high state of cultivation. Beyond 
that are low ranges of rock mountains and much sand, in fact, the 
actual desert, where no vegetation grows — not a tree, not a shrub 
or a spear of grass. At this season the river is getting low, and 
the natives do a large amount of pumping to lift the water out of 
the Nile to irrigate the crops. They have a kind of well sweep, 
with a dipper made of pig skin, on the end of a pole, with which 
one man lifts the water about twelve feet. Usually there were 
three men, one above the other, and they three would lift the 
water about thirty-six feet. These laborers are native blacks, 
and good workers. Those we saw were entirely nude while 
at their pumping work, and there was a very large number 
of them so engaged. In fact, at this season of the year there is a 
pumping station about every three hundred yards, on each side 
of the Xile. We suggested that the English, who are building 
sugar mills in this part of the Xile valley, ought to do this 
pumping with gasoline engines, very cheaply, but the reply was, 
"This labor is cheaper than gasoline for lifting water." 

Our steward on the steamer was a devout Mohammedan, 
and all good Mohammedans pray five times a day with their 
faces always toward Mecca. We timed this Mohammedan one 
night as he was saying his prayers. First he stands and silently 
prays, and makes three low bows during his standing. Then he 
sits on his legs, which are crossed in the usual Arab sitting 
posture, and silently prays, and makes three very low bows. 
Then he makes a fourth bow and touches the earth or floor with 
his head. He now rises and we think he has finished his prayer. 
Xot so, at all. He goes over these same motions seven times, 
making his prayers in all consume fifteen minutes, and as he 




PART (>!■' TKMI'I.K OF KARNAK. 



does this five times a clay it takes about an hour and a quarter 
each day to say his prayers. That would put to shame the 
average Christian, who perhaps does not spend more than five or 
ten minutes per day in the posture of prayer. Also, a 
command which Mohammed gave to his followers: "Drink no 
intoxicating- liquors of any kind," is obeyed strictly, and the 
Mohammedan never gets drunk. 

The city of Luxor is the ancient Thebes of Egypt, and has 
now about 1 1,000 population, and is situated on one of the most 
fertile plains of the world. The Nile, of course, is everything to 
Egypt, and annually irrigates by inundation or pumping, all the 
valley, and gives the needed moisture for their great crops. We 
viewed the temple of Luxor, which is now in ruins, but its for- 
mer grandeur is still apparent. It originally had two obelisks, 
about one hundred feet high, one on each side of the main 
entrance. One has fallen, the other is standing and in excellent 
shape still, and the historical inscriptions are not at all defaced. 

There are many statues of Rameses the Great to be seen here, 
each hewn out of one piece of red granite, and in size forty to 
fifty feet high, but there is not one which has not been broken. 
The Romans did more destruction in Egypt than all others. 
When they took the country they apparently desired to show 
their utter contempt for the Egyptian gods, and with great labor, 
using sledges, they broke all these big statues of Rameses the 
Great, and all other statues to be found, destroyed their temples, 
and ransacked the tombs for jewelry. 

Xext, we went to the noted Temple of Karnak, which is 
about a mile out from Luxor. This temple and grounds covered 
one hundred acres. The building itself covered about sixty acres. 
It is colossal, beyond description. The walls at the gates where 

60 




PARTIAL VIEW OF THE RUINS OF THE TKMI'I.K OF KARNAK. 



we entered are one hundred and forty feet high. In one gallery there 
are one hundred and thirty-four stupendous pillars, about fifteen 
feet in thickness and nearly one hundred feet high. In the central 
part of the temple there were two obelisks about one hundred 
feet high. ( hie lias fallen, the other is still standing. This 
temple has been half covered with dust, sand and fallen rocks for 
many centuries. It was built 1900 years B. (_'., but took the work 
of several kings to bring it to its original greatness. They are 
still working on excavations here, and have in the past few months 
unearthed a golden chariot, eighty-eight statues, and many other 
things of value, and anticipate finding a great many more 
historical relics, as there is a very large part of this temple that 
still lies covered with sand. 

( )n Saturday, March 4th, we crossed the Nile to the west 
bank, opposite Luxor, and took donkeys for a ride of six miles 
to the Tombs of the Kings and the Valley I)ayr-el-P>ahree, also 
the temple of Hataso. These tombs were made about 1300 years 
to 1700 years B, C, and are built in tunnels made in solid rock, 
under the mountains for a long distance, and dip down into the 
mountain rapidly as they go in. They are now all lighted by 
electricity. They are the only tombs we have seen that are 
lighted by electricity. That is bringing the ancient and modern 
very close together, but it is a great convenience indeed, as the 
inscriptions on the walls are very plain to see, also the beautiful 
colorings on the walls and ceilings, by the aid of electric light. 
These tombs are only about 3500 years old, and the pictures and 
figures seem about as clear and plain as when they were first 
built. All the mummies have been taken out of these tombs 
except four. The King Amonothes' mummy still lies at the 
most inner part of one of these tombs, in a granite coffin, and is 

71 




PART OF THE RUINS OF THE TKM1M.K, OF KARNAK. 



in good condition. There is an electric light which hangs ovet 
his face, so that one can see him very well, also there are three 
other mummies in a niche near the king, supposed to be 
criminals killed when the king died, and sent with him to the 
unknown to help him along. We also saw a very old temple 
where the inscriptions still remain very clear and plain. After a 
good lunch, furnished by Thos. Cook & Son at their rest house 
beside the temple, we again took our donkeys and returned to 
the steamer. This was much more pleasant than our former 
donkey ride, as the animals were larger and better in every way, 
and the drivers more intelligent. The one who drove my donkey 
was fairly bright. I tried to teach him to count up to ten. He 
learned up to seven, but could not get beyond that in one after- 
noon. These donkey drivers are like most of the tillers of the 
soil here, regular Arabs, of all colors from black up to fairly 
light mulatto. Hardly any of them wear any shoes or trousers. 
They have a kind of turban on their heads, made of unbleached 
cotton cloth and a long flowing garment like a shirt, but having 
many folds and coming down near the ground. It may be made 
of black calico or thin unbleached muslin. Many of them talk 
broken English. We met an old Sheik of this class, who was a 
dealer in antiques in Luxor, said to be worth a quarter million 
dollars. He was quite black, with a slight gray or white beard, 
his costume was same as noted above, except that he wore a pair 
of slippers or sandals and stockings. He could speak English 
well, and was very independent in offering his goods for sale. 
Strange to say, he had only one price. We could buy at that 
price or let them alone. He had the most valuable lot of 
antiques that we saw in upper Egypt. 



73 





>. 




u*g 












fc 




THE VALLEY OF DEATH— ON THE ROAD TO THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 



On Sunday morning-, March 5th, we went to the American 
Mission at Luxor, but were too late for their sermon, as their 
service is early at this season. They have quite large buildings, 
and are under the management of the United Presbyterian 
church. Then we went to the English speaking Episcopal 
church and heard a very good sermon. On coming out of the 
church we were met by one of our servants from the boat, who 
said, "Hurry up, the boat is just leaving for Assouan, and if I 
had not come for you, you would have been left," and it was 
true. The captain had changed his hour of leaving from 
1 :oo o'clock to 1 1 130 and had not notified us. 

On Monday, March 6th, on our way by steamer from Luxor 
to Assouan, we stopped at Edfou, to view the temple there. 
This temple was begun about 227 15. C, and completed 27 B. C, 
and is only about 2000 years old. Most of the walls are built of 
sandstone, some parts being red granite. Almost the entire 
walls and roof are still standing, and in excellent shape. It is 
now being repaired by the historical society of Egypt, and will 
soon be as good as it was 2000 years ago. Perhaps it would be 
well to state that one reason for the walls of these ancient temples 
standing the test of time for thousands of years is the perfect 
climate here. There is actually no frost, and no rain ever falls 
in Egypt, or so little that we might say none. We are told 
that there was one rain here in upper Egypt fifteen years ago, 
which lasted half an hour, but there has not been a shower since 
then. We were much pleased to view this temple of Edfou, as it 
gave us a better idea of the original grandeur of the older 
temples, which are now in ruins. This temple is two hundred 
and forty feet wide and about five hundred or six hundred feet 
long. The front wall is one hundred and fifteen feet high and 

75 




ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE AT EDFOU 



about fifteen feet thick. There is an easy stairway to the top of 
this wall on the inside, consisting- of two hundred and forty-six 
steps. The whole surface of all the walls, both outside and in- 
side, is covered with Egyptian pictures and Egyptian history, 
cut into the rock, so that there is not the slightest trouble to get 
authentic history of all the past of Egypt, notwithstanding the 
fact that the ancient Alexandrian Library was burned. This 
temple of Edfou, the main part aside from the front, is about 
eighty or ninety feet high and is entirely surrounded by an outer 
wall, just the same height as the temple itself. The outer wall 
is about twenty feet from the outside walls of the temple itself, 
thus forming a narrow alley, or lane all around the temple, and 
the entire walls of this outside wall are covered, both outside and 
inside, with Egyptian pictures and history, cut in the rock, the same 
as the temple itself. The inside of the temple has an open court 
where the people used to assemble, then an inside court where the 
priests used to offer burnt offerings as a sacrifice to their gods, 
and still further a Holy of Holies, where no one was admitted 
but the king, the arrangement being similar to the arrangement 
of the tabernacle of the Israelites when they were marching 
through the wilderness. Then there are many small rooms, which 
were used for special purposes, one being a room for the treasury, 
where they kept the gold and silver, another where the king 
washed his feet and changed his clothing before going into the 
Holy of Holies, etc. We also passed the ruins of several other 
temples, which we could plainly see from the steamer, but did 
not stop to view them. In fact if we should undertake to see all 
the old temples of Egypt, it might take us all summer. Also we 
passed two large modern sugar factories, and yesterday we saw 
a train of about forty car loads of sugar cane, going to the sugar 

77 




ENTRANCE TO THE TOMBS OE THE KINGS. 



factory. Sugar is going" to be one of the important industries 
of Egypt in the near future, as the big dam across the Nile at 
Assouan will greatly increase the land that can be reached with 
irrigation, and it is all fertile if it can be well watered. 

We reached Assouan March 7th, and it presents a very 
good appearance from the river, but all the buildings back of 
the river street are very poor, and occupied with shops of the 
most inferior trash that we have yet seen, called antiques. We 
visited an old temple site on the west bank of the Xile. It is en- 
tirely in ruins, and most of the material has been hauled away 
to build other structures. The Savoy Hotel is on the west bank 
of the Xile, and a very attractive place. The Cataract Hotel on 
the east bank is new, just built last year, at a cost of half a mil- 
lion dollars. Either of these hotels would please the most 
fastidious traveler. They are up-to-date in all respects, (except 
bath rooms, which are very few). In fact, they are about as 
good as the best hotels in Europe, and the prices are about the 
same. A good room in the Cataract Hotel is five dollars per 
day, board about four dollars per day additional. In season 
they are always more than full. 

This is called the dryest atmosphere of any place in Egypt, 
and has a great reputation as a health resort. Assouan has 
13,000 population, and is on the edge of the Great Sahara 
Desert. The great Nile dam is eight miles above the city, built 
by an Englishman named Castle. It is one of the greatest en- 
gineering feats of the world, about a mile long and seventy feet 
high, eighty feet wide at the base, and forty feet wide at the top, 
built of red granite and cement. We were over it today, March 
8, 1905, and it is located in a spot greatly favored by nature for 
this work. The granite hills there come up to the bank of the 

79 



Nile on each side, in fact the whole country in that section is red 
granite, and it lasts for all time. (The tombs and statuary of 
Egypt constructed of this granite four thousand years ago, are 
just as good as when built, except where they have been broken 
purposely to deface them.) All the bottom of the river here is 
solid red granite, which makes the best possible foundation for 
this great work. There are one hundred and ninety-five gate 
ways through this dam. and when we were there, they hail 
twenty-one of these gateways open for the water to run through, 
and it went through with great volume and force. The gateway 
openings are about ten feet high and seven feet wide. The fall 
of water is now about forty feet, as the Nile is getting towards 
a low stage. The gateways are near the bottom part of the 
dam. The cost, up to the present time, is ten million dollars, 
and it is estimated that when they get their irrigation canals 
completed, they will get enough returns to pay for the dam in 
five years. The dam was completed in 1902, but that was only 
the original dam. They are still at work making improvements, 
and have nearly a thousand men at work now. They have built 
a very fine canal and system of locks to take vessels over the 
elevation. There are five locks which open and shut from one 
side like a sliding door. We happened to see a large steamer 
pass through the locks to-day. The company have decided to 
raise the dam twenty feet higher, and in order to do so will have 
to build the dam and locks about twenty feet thicker, to stand 
the increased pressure; they are now doing this extra work. The 
amount of water now held by this dam is very great. We took 
a boat ride on this artificial lake, of perhaps two miles, and it is 
very deep. Unfortunately the great Temple of Phylae, situated 
originally on an island, was only a short distance above the dam, 



y ■ 













and is now thirty feet deep in water. We went around this tem- 
ple today in boats, and went into that part which is still ont of 
the water. It is in a very fair state of preservation, and the 
many inscriptions and pictures are in a good condition, and very 
easily read. The great Rosetta Stone, which is a key to the 
ancient hieroglyphic writing' on all the Egyptian temples and 
tombs, was found here and taken to the Museum in London, 
and a copy left here. This Rosetta Stone, or key, was a great 
thing - for history, as it has definitely located all Egyptian his- 
tory, or the most ancient history of the world. I have stated 
heretofore that "it never rains in Egypt," but extraordinary as 
it may appear, we had a rain storm yesterday while on our way 
by train between Assouan and Luxor, a light, gentle shower of 
ten minutes duration. That was a great rain for this country. 
We traversed the Xile for seven hundred and fifty miles, and 
there is not a rivulet of any size, large or small, that empties 
into this great river. The Egyptian Railway from Assouan to 
Alexandria has but two bridges, and these two are across the 
Nile. This railroad is a four-foot gauge, and follows the Xile 
Valley all this distance. It should have been built very cheaply, 
as there are almost no bridges, no cuts or fills, no grades, and 
very few curves. There is quite a business in this country in 
excavating the graves of the ancient dead in order to secure the 
jewelry that was buried with these mummified bodies. With 
most of these bodies they find gold or silver jewelry, and 
precious stones of various kinds, but the most common jewelry 
with these bodies is a small stone beetle, something like a pinch- 
ing bug in appearance. In size, these stone beetles, called 
"Scarabs", are from the size of a bean to a small hickory nut. 
These ancient idolators believed that this beetle, or scarab, 

83 




MR. WEBB WIIHKLKK, TEMPORARY CAPTAIN ON BOARD THK 
NILK RIVER STEAMER SERAPHIS. 



represented the soul, and they usually made a necklace of these 
stone scarabs, and put it on the dead body, and today the scarab 
is for sale in every jewelry shop in Egypt, set in rings, made in 
bracelets, sleeve buttons, etc. All travelers get the craze to buy 
these ancient stone scarabs, for jewelry. They are considered 
the greatest novelty in jewelry, many of them being over four 
thousand years old. They are mostly brown and green; some 
are blue. 

The native population of Egypt are a mixture of Arabs (who 
are Mohammedans) color brown, good strong physique, and more 
numerous than any other people here; also Coptics, who are the 
best educated of any Egyptians, and nearly white. They are of 
Protestant faith, and while not numerous, are the highest order of 
intelligence of any natives of Egypt. According to the Egyptian 
laws, the clerk of every court must be a Coptic. Then there are the 
native blacks, which are next in number to the Arabs. They are 
a higher order of intelligence than the African negro which we 
have in the United States, and have better features. 

The climate of Egypt is nearly perfect at this season of the 
year, and a great many Europeans come here in December, 
January, February and March, for their health. We like it so 
much that we would be glad to stay here a month if we had the 
time to do so. 

After an easy night's sail we reached Jaffa, Palestine, on 
Sunday, March 12, 1905. We had often heard that this port 
was the worst landing place in the world, and from our 
experience we are perfectly satisfied that Jaffa is entitled to such 
a reputation. The weather appeared favorable, and we thought 
we were going to have a fair sea for landing, but when we came 
to disembark we found it quite different. The sea is shallow 

85 



and rocky, so that our good ship, Moltke, was compelled to 
anchor a mile and a half from shore (there is no bay or harbor 
here), and we reached shore by means of row boats. The sea 
was the roughest we have ever experienced in row boats. It was 
quite difficult to get into the small boats, and when we were in, 
the boats tossed about like egg shells, on the tremendous waves. 
Many were very sick and many others were much frightened. 
At last we were landed at Jaffa, a place of about 11,000 popula- 
tion, mostly Arabs, a city of narrow streets, about ten or fifteen 
feet wide, with much dirt and many unpleasant smells. After a 
walk of half a mile through such streets we came to a bunch of 
Arab carriages, and such yelling and hurrahing we never heard 
before. They were far ahead of the Xew York cabmen in the art 
(if you call it art) of yelling for passengers. After a carriage ride 
of half a mile we reached the Jerusalem and Jaffa railway station, 
and this is a very poor railway, with the poorest passenger cars 
we ever saw. The distance to Jerusalem by rail is fifty-four miles. 
The regular schedule time is three and a half hours, but we were 
unfortunate enough to have an accident on the way, and it took 
us five and a half hours to reach Jerusalem. These trains are 
small in every way, and there is no brakeman except on the 
engine, and no bell-rope. When about half way to Jerusalem, 
the rails spread, causing the rear car to jump the tracks. It ran 
along on the rock ballast for about one hundred yards, until it 
had crossed a small bridge about thirty feet high. Here the 
front trucks broke loose and slipped against the back trucks, and 
tore up the cross ties in crossing the bridge. As they always run 
very slowly the pull at last became so great that the engine had 
to stop. This was very fortunate indeed for the occupants of the 
car, as it was careened, nearly ready to fall over a thirty-foot 

8/ 



embankment, and would have been certain death to many per- 
sons. A bell-rope, such as we use in passenger trains, would 
have avoided this accident. At last, about 7:00 p. m., we ar- 
rived at Jerusalem, in the dark, after a rain storm. We were 
very glad to get fairly good rooms at the imperial Hotel, and 
after a good dinner (of the Jerusalem kind) were tired enough to 
sleep soundly on any kind of beds. Next morning (still raining) 
we were off at eight o'clock for the river Jordan, Jericho and 
the Dead Sea, twenty miles distant, by an excellent carriage 
road, over as rough and rocky mountains as we ever saw. The 
"Apostles' Fountain" is about five miles out, an excellent spring 
of water, walled up, and a small rock house over it. The next 
place is the "Samaritan's Inn," about ten miles east of Jerusalem. 
It is simply a rock house where travelers may feed their teams 
and get lunch, provided they carry their feed and lunch (built on 
the spot where the good Samaritan rendered kind service to him 
that fell among thieves). A little further along we find the 
brook "Cherith," where the Prophet Elijah hid himself while 
fleeing from Jezebel, and was fed by the ravens. It is rough and 
rugged, and deep enough to be a good hiding place for Elijah. 
The Greek Catholic monks have built a monastery here. It is 
only accessible by a donkey path, for a mile or more. We next 
passed the valley of Achan, being the place where Achan was 
stoned for taking a wedge of gold and hiding it under his tent. 
We arrived at Jericho in time for lunch at Bellevue Hotel, then 
took our carriages for the river Jordan, about five miles distant. 
This river, sacred to many by its Bible history, is disappointing 
to the sightseer. It is about one hundred feet wide, but quite 
deep. It is very muddy, and its banks are so soft and muddy, and 
covered with willows, or brush, that it appears to be a very un- 

89 



favorable place for baptising", by immersion, yet we met six 
hundred Russian Pilgrims, on foot, mostly old men and old 
women, many of them barefooted, of the peasant class, on a 
pilgrimage to the Jordan, to dip themselves in the same place 
where Christ was baptized (they are of the Greek Catholic faith). 
We are told that thousands of these Greek Catholics make this 
pilgrimage each year, always on foot. When this party of 
Russian Pilgrims reached the river, they were so eager for 
immersion in the sacred Jordan that they literally ran into the 
river, without regard to danger of drowning (and some of them 
are drowned there every year). True, they all needed a bath, 
and their clothing also. Xext we drove about five miles down 
the Jordan to the Dead Sea, which is forty-seven miles long, and 
nine miles wide, and the deepest natural depression on the 
Earth's surface, being about fifteen hundred feet below the sea 
level. The waters have a very salty, brackish and unpleasant 
taste. There are no boats or pleasure craft on this sea. Xext 
we drove back to Jericho to the Gilgal Hotel for the night. The 
hotels in Jericho are quite primitive, and not inviting to the 
tourist who is accustomed to the New York hotels, yet we were 
very glad to find a place where we could sleep and get something 
to eat. The present city of Jericho has about three hundred 
population and is situated in the valley of the Jordan, about two 
miles from the site of the ancient Jericho of Joshua's time. The 
inhabitants are mostly Arabs, and very poor. The whole valley 
of Jordan is sandy and barren, at least as far as we saw. There 
is scarcely anything growing there, and the ground is too poor 
and sandy to raise anything. There are no trees in this valley. 
Only one large tree marks Gilgal, the spot where Joshua first 



9i 



halted with the Israelitish army, after marching- through the 
river Jordan. 

Xext morning we partook of a hasty breakfast of eggs, cold 
bread and coffee, nothing else. We asked for bacon, and the 
waiter said, "Yes, yes," but did not bring the bacon. We left early 
for our return trip to Jerusalem. On our way we called at Bethany, 
the place where Christ ascended, and saw the ruins of the house of 
Mary and Martha, also the tomb of Lazarus, where Christ raised 
him from the dead. The tomb is only a short distance from the 
house, and both are now owned by the Creek Catholics. There 
is a high wall around these ruins, and a small chapel there. Next 
we called at the Garden of Gethsemane, which to me is as sacred 
as any place in Jerusalem. This garden is now enclosed by a 
high rock wall, and iron fence, and there are about a dozen very 
old olive trees here. One is said to be growing since the time of 
Christ. It is at least a very remarkable tree, about seven feet in 
diameter. Apparently some new wood grows occasionally on 
the outside, enough to keep the tree alive. It still has leaves, 
and probably bears olives. The olive is almost the only tree that 
grows in this part of Palestine. This part of the garden of Geth- 
semane is owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Adjacent to 
it, and no doubt on part of the original garden, is built the most 
beautiful church building (as to outside appearance, we did not 
go inside) that we have yet seen. It is the property of the Greek 
Catholics, has six small and one large spire. Each of these six 
small spires is topped with a small dome, and the large, or cen- 
tral spire, with a large dome, and all these seven spires and 
domes are covered with gold. The church presents a very beau- 
tiful appearance in the bright sunlight, On our way to the Gar- 
den of Gethsemane, in a narrow street walled up high on each 

93 




PILOTS ON OUR NILE STKAMER SERAPHIS. 



side, we found three lepers, who sat together by the side of the 
wall, begging in a sorrowful and pathetic tone. They were truly 
a pitiful sight. After viewing Gethsemane, we returned to Jeru- 
salem. It is only a short distance, just across the valley of 
Jehoshaphat, and our next call was at the The Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre. This is the most important sight in all Palestine. It 
is said to be on the exact spot where Christ was crucified and 
buried in Joseph's new tomb. There are three different denom- 
inations that keep candles or lamps always burning over the 
vacant tomb of Christ, as well as over the spot where he was cruci- 
fied, and they are so jealous of each other that each is ready to 
fight the other. In fact, the only way to keep peace is to have a 
Mohammedan soldier to stand by the place of crucifixion and the 
vault, all the time, and he stands there every moment, day and 
night. The three sects (the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, 
and Armenians) each have a chapel built against this church, and 
opening into it. The whole thing, church and chapels, are ex- 
travagantly decorated with lamps, frescoes, pictures, gold and 
silver trimmings, etc., and here is the- place where the priest gets 
the sacred fire on Easter, and they usually have a great fight (and 
frequently kill each other) , striving to get the first light from the 
Holy Fire. Next we visited the German Lutheran Church, 
which was built recently, situated on the old site of St. John's 
Church (which was built by the Crusaders). This is a fine, large 
church, well built, and has none of the inside decorations so com- 
mon in all Oriental Cathedrals. It looks more like one of our 
home churches than any we have seen for a long time. We also 
visited the Mosque of Omar, which is built on the old site of 
Solomon's Temple. The whole Mosque is Mosaic work, inside 
and out, indeed one of the most beautiful we have yet seen, and 

95 




OUR TWO DRAGOMEN, ABRAHAM AND JOSEPH, NATIVES OF ASSYRIA. 



very large. The dome is one of the largest domes in the world, 
and is painted black on the outside. In the center of the Mosque, 
under the great dome, is the large rock which was used in the 
Solomon's Temple as an altar for the burnt offerings. It is a 
natural, or live rock, just where nature placed it, about fifty feet 
in diameter, and nearly circular, with a place cut in the rock to 
carry off the blood from the sacrifice, and a hollow, shallow 
place for the animal while being burnt. This rock is protected 
from tourists by a tight fence, nearly as high as a man's head, 
and it is well to have it so, for if opportunity offered it would 
be chipped off and carried away by tourists, although it is really 
a solid part of this granite mountain. The Mohammedans say 
that when Mohammed was taken to Heaven this rock was about 
to be taken with him, and was only prevented by the Angel 
Gabriel, who held it down, in proof of which they show the 
prints of the fingers of Gabriel in the rock. There is no doubt 
about this, as the finger prints are surely there, for we saw them. 
Under the temple area, which is a large, open place, is Solomon's 
stable, a large underground space, about three hundred or four 
hundred feet square, the roof being held up by stone pilliars and 
arches, the whole being stone, like a cavern built in the solid 
rock. We saw one manger cut in the solid rock, for feeding the 
horses, and holes drilled in the pillars, as a place to tie horses, 
and still below this stable is another cavern in the rock, very 
large, which has not been explored. It is thought that many 
relics from Solomon's Temple would be found in this cavern, but 
the Sultan, who is all powerful, will not permit any explorations 
to be made in this cavern. There are two small pieces of Solo- 
mon's Temple (being parts of marble pillars, beautifully cut like 
a braided rope) shown, and twelve full size marble pillars, about 

97 



twenty feet high, taken from the ruins of the original Solomon's 
Temple, which are now standing: around the sacred rock altar, 
and help to support the dome of the mosque. The cut shows 
three of these pillars. A part of the city wall, as it now stands, 
was a part of the wall of Solomon's Temple. That part which 
stands as orig-inally built, is now called the Jews' Wailing Place, 
and when we visited it there were prohably a hundred Jews there, 
praying and wailing. They stand and pray aloud, and wail, with 
swaying motion of the body, and face towards the wall, fre- 
quently kissing the wall, all praying for the restoration of 
Solomon's Temple, and Jerusalem. This is a very filthy, unclean 
place, with odors which certainly smell to Heaven. From the 
mosque, which is on the south-east side of Jerusalem, we walked 
through the entire city, by way of David Street, to the Jaffa Gate, 
on the west. This David Street is about ten or twelve feet wide, 
and filled on each side with small shops, about six to ten feet 
wide and six to twenty feet deep. Every kind of business that is 
done in Jerusalem, is here represented. The street goes down 
into a valley by steps cut in the natural rock, and up again on 
the other side of the valley, by similar steps cut in the natural 
rock. This street is nearly a mile long, and the busiest place in 
the city, filled with a motley mob, of the worst appearance that 
we ever saw, Arabs, Turks, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Africans, 
a few Europeans, in fact almost all the nations of the earth, and 
all colors, from black to white, mostly barefooted, and clothed 
in Oriental style, with a night shirt and Turkish trousers, a tur- 
ban or fez, and without exception the dirtiest, and vilest place of 
any city street on the face of the earth. Jerusalem has about 
85,000 population, as follows— 40,000 Jews, 22,000 Protestants, 
7,000 Catholics, and 16,000 Mohammedans. It is built on solid 

99 



rock mountains, and all the building's are of rock. There are no 
sewers, and no water works, no gas or electric lights. The only 
water they have is the rainfall, gathered in cisterns, or from wells 
or springs. The walls of the city are about fifty feet high, and 
usually have a moat, or valley, on the outside, so that it was 
about impossible to take the city by assault with the weapons 
used in ancient times. These city walls have been battered down 
several times, and rebuilt, but not always on the old foundations. 
The present wall is eleven hundred feet inside of the original 
walls on the south-east side, and is outside of the original walls 
on the north side, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands. 
The whole wall at present is about three and one-fourth miles 
long, measuring all around the city. In the last few years quite 
a city has been built outside of the walls, on the north and west 
sides. These are a good class of rock buildings, two or three 
stories high, with red tile roofs and fairly wide streets, quite 
modern in appearance, in contrast with the city inside the walls. 

In describing the church of the Holy Sepulchre, one very 
important matter was forgotten, — we saw here Adam's grave. 
It is kept in fairly good repair, considering it is so very ancient. 
I have always wanted to see Adam's grave, as he was one of my 
forefathers, and was greatly pleased when, much to my surprise, 
I found it here in Jerusalem. Although he is a distant relative, 
I did not shed any tears over his grave, as he has been dead so 
long. 

( )n the morning of March 16, 1905, we drove out to Beth- 
lehem, six miles. The morning was beautiful, and we enjoyed 
the drive very much. The Church of the Nativity is the only 
place of importance to the tourist. Here we saw the place where 
Christ was born, marked by a large, silver star let into the floor, 

101 



and fourteen lamps are kept burning-. Also the manger where 
Christ was laid is very near, and here there are six candles, or lamps, 
always kept burning. This is also a place where Christians fight, 
and to keep peace between the different 'denominations a Moham- 
medan soldier is alway on guard, day and night, and even then 
fights are frequent. It seems to me that the Christian spirit does 
not take full possession of these warring factions. There are 
three chapels built, opening into this church, by three different 
denominations. The largest of these is the Roman Catholic. 
No one is allowed to live in Bethlehem except Protestants and 
Catholics. The new part of the town looks fairly well, but the 
old part is dirty, with narrow and crooked streets, and the people 
look about as poverty stricken as in the poorest places we have 
seen. The town has about 4,000 population. On the way to 
Bethlehem we passed the Tomb of Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife, 
and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. After this we went to 
the Mount of Olives, and had a great view of the whole country, 
as well as Jerusalem itself. The Mount of Olives is about a mile 
east of Jerusalem, and higher than any other point in this part 
of Palestine. No doubt it was from here our Savior looked 
down upon the city and said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that 
killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how 
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." 
Perhaps he was then looking down at the grave of the Prophet 
Zachariah, which is in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and plainly 
visible from the Mount of Olives. The Dead Sea and the River 
Jordan are also plainly visible to the east from this point, 
although fifteen miles distant. Jerusalem is two thousand five 
hundred feet above sea level, and is quite cold in the mornings, 

103 



at this time of the year. There was a good, strong frost while 
we were there. The olive trees grow all about the city, but 
tropical palm trees are not seen around Jerusalem. YYe think 
this city must have been located on the top of these mountains 
with a view of getting a place that would be hard to take in war, 
as it is certainly the most inaccessible city we have seen. Taking 
the whole of Palestine as it is to-day, it is certainly not worth 
fighting for. The plains of Goshen about Jaffa are quite fertile, 
and we saw there several of the best orange groves that we have 
seen, loaded with a crop of yellow oranges, of the seedless vari- 
ety, and very sweet. This fruit is selling now in Jaffa at ten 
cents per dozen, and that includes the basket in which they are 
packed. Also there are some very good fields of wheat on this 
plain. Aside from that we saw scarcely any land that was worth 
cultivating. Nearly the whole country is covered with mountains 
of rock that have very little soil on them, just enough to grow 
olive trees in the most favored locations, and a very little grass 
for sheep and goats. The Valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, 
is a desert, at least that part which we saw. This land must cer- 
tainly have been very much better when Joshua led the hosts of 
Israel to fight for it. Also, the common people are the most 
poverty stricken, and the beggars the most persistent, of any we 
have seen. Taking Palestine altogether, we would not wish to 
locate there for a permanent residence. 

We arrived at Constantinople on March 19, IQ05, and the 
weather was very wet and cold. In fact the whole four days of 
our stay there were cloudy, rainy and cold, with a chill north 
wind which was anything but pleasant for pleasure seekers, par- 
ticularly like ourselves, who had the week before been in Egypt, 
where the weather was very warm, and on account of the unfav- 

105 



orable weather we no doubt got an impression of the city which 
was not as good as it should be. Constantinople is a great city, 
and has a population of 800,000 to 1,000,000, — mostly Turks, 
who are without exception Mohammedans. The city is very 
finely situated, and from our steamer, lying- in the harbor, it pre- 
sented a more beautiful appearance than any other city we had 
seen on the Mediterranean. It is cut up by the water into three 
sections. On the west side of the Bosphorus it is divided by the 
Golden Horn, a small river, and across the Bosphorus, on the 
east or Asia side, lies quite a large part of the city. It has a very 
fine harbor, large and deep, and does a large commercial business 
with all this part of the world, being situated to control the ship- 
ping trade, and the Bosphorus is the key to the naval situation 
here. Russia has for years had a great desire to "gobble Turkey," 
and she really needs this seaport outlet for her Black Sea pos- 
sessions, but it now appears that her Japan troubles and her 
home troubles, will so reduce the forces and the spirit of the Czar 
that he may not have much to say about Turkey in future. The 
Sultan of Turkey is not in favor of innovations or progress, and 
the city has no general water system, no electric lights, no gen- 
eral sewer system, no electric power and no telephones. They 
have a small line of horse cars. The taxes are collected after the 
old Roman fashion, that is, they are farmed out to a public tax 
gatherer, who has to collect ten per cent of the crops, and it is 
claimed that he does in fact collect over fifteen per cent. For 
illustration, he will view a field of wheat and estimate consider- 
ably higher than the actual yield, and the farmer must pay the 
estimate of the tax gatherer. 

There are two bridges which cross the Golden Horn. They 
are both pontoon bridges, and the one we crossed is called the 

107 



Galeta Bridge. It is said this bridge shows the greatest variety 
of humanity of any place in the city, if not in the whole world. 
A continuous stream of Turks, Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, 
Russians, Chinese. Africans, white people, all shades of color and 
condition. The streets are mostly of the ancient style, only ten 
or fifteen feet wide, very rough generally, no side walks. The 
bazars are located in the old part of the city, and carriages do 
not drive through them, as many of these streets go up and 
down steps, and are too narrow and rough for carriages. These 
streets are arched over, with small windows in the arches, which 
let in a little light. Even in mid-day the place is dimly lighted, 
and by five o'clock it gets quite dark. Through these small, 
dimly lighted and dirty lanes, a great mass of bargain hunters 
and sightseers are always passing, and the merchants are eager 
for business. There are four thousand bazars in this quarter, 
mostly small places, ten or twelve feet square. These bazars 
have almost every kind of merchandise, what we call trash. They 
call the stuff antiques. At any rate it is frequently old enough 
to be shopworn. If you buy anything you are sure to be cheated, 
as they have no regular price, but ask twenty shillings for an 
article, and will usually sell for six or eight shillings, if you will 
not pay more, and then you will find that you have paid too 
much. Their money is the silver piastre, nominally about five 
cents in value, but now rated at about four cents, and a small 
bronze coin called metallics. This latter looks much like tin, as the 
bronze is usually worn off. These metallics pass for the value 
of one and one-fourth cents of our money. 

Their clocks are like ours, but they begin to count hours 
from six in the morning. At seven they say it is one o'clock, 
and at eight they call it two o'clock, at noon they call it six, and 

109 




BEDOUINS IN PALESTINE. 



so on. Their great Mosque of St. Sophia is the largest mosque in 
the world, being three hundred feet long, three hundred wide, 
and three hundred feet high, begun in 326 A. ])., and finished 
by Emperor Justinian in 526 A. D., built as a Christian Church. 
It is said that Justinian impoverished his empire in building it, 
and did not pay his officers or soldiers or any other obligations 
for some time, while this great church was building. Soon after 
its completion the Mohammedans took Constantinople, and con- 
verted it into a mosque by building a minaret at each of the four 
comers, and a niche in the wall which faces Mecca, and painted 
over all the crosses that had been painted on its walls. It is 
plainly furnished inside. This great mosque is about fourteen 
hundred years old, and is the principal place of Mohammedan 
worship, although they have hundreds of other mosques scattered 
all over the city. 

We visited the Sultan's treasury beautifully located on 
Seraglio Point, a hill facing the Bosphorus, but a poor, small 
building. Here we found a large collection of jewels, clocks, 
guns and swords, and all the various gifts that have been bestowed 
upon the Sultan. The most important article exhibited is the 
"Persian Throne," captured from the Persians some centuries 
ago. I can hardly describe this throne. It might be called a 
large chair, about five feet square, and raised on legs about two feet, 
covered with silk and closely studded over all the outside with 
precious stones of every kind, and pearls. So closely are these 
stones and pearls placed that it looks like embroidery, when you 
stand a short distance away. Next we visited the Sultan's Kiosk, 
very beautifully furnished, and has beautiful gardens around it. 
After that we called at the Sultan's tea-room, where his servants 
invited us to take a very good cup of Turkish coffee. I regret to 



1 1 1 



say that the Sultan himslf was not present; as he has a very large 
household and many important domestic as well as state duties, 
we did not have the pleasure of meeting- him or his wives. 
It is said he now has thirty-five wives, and no doubt he is a 
busy man. After this we called at the library, which is 
a small building', one room about thirty feet square, and prin- 
cipally filled with copies of the Koran. Then to the Throne 
Room, which is a small room perhaps thirty feet square, and 
plainly furnished, and the Throne looks much like a large canopy 
bed, and is not ornamented with jewels. Also we saw the "Harem 
Prison," from the outside, which is still used as a prison for any 
one incurring the displeasure of the Sultan from the Harem. 
Next we visited the Museum of Antiquities, and saw a great col- 
lection of jewelry, pottery, and such things, which have been 
taken from tombs excavated in Turkey. Also there is a very 
large amount of statuary here, which has been found at different 
places in Turkey. The most important item to be seen here is 
the "Tomb of Alexander the Great," which was found a few 
years ago, in the ruins of Tyre and Sidon, covered with about 
fifteen feet of earth and rubbish, and four other very fine tombs 
found with it. All are in good condition, and scarcely damaged 
by time. This Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great is the most 
beautiful and elaborate of any tomb we have seen. It is about 
the same size as Napoleon's tomb in Paris, and is cut out of one 
solid piece of white granite, and on both sides and ends there is a 
belt of the most beautiful sculpture of men and horses, some in 
warrior figures, others as athletes. The figure of "Alexander the 
Great" is easily identified. All these figures are very finely 
chiselled, or cut, showing the most minute details, and are not 
broken or damaged in any way, and not much discolored. In 

Ii3 




ii sin 



CHURCH OF THK HOI.Y SEPULCHRE — JERUSALEM. 



fact, the whole tomb looks so perfect that one is led to doubt if 
it really is "Alexander the Great's" tomb. We also visited the 
Pig-eon Mosque, where thousands of pigeons congregate and wait 
to be fed, and they flock around the visitor so closely that they 
annoy us, like the pigeons at St. Mark's, Venice. We saw a 
great number of dogs in the streets, mostly of the "yaller dog" 
variety. They are called the city's scavengers, and are not 
molested by any one. The Sultan should be deposed and a 
republic established, in place of this despot, giving the people an 
opportunity to rule themselves with a form of government similar 
to ours. Then an era of great prosperity would dawn for benighted 
Turkey. The Sultan is very strict about passports. When you 
first land he requires that you hand your passport to one of his 
officers, and he will keep it until you are ready to leave the city. 
On leaving Constantinople we steamed up the Bosphorus to 
the Black Sea, and this was the most pleasant part of our visit to 
Turkey. The Bosphorus is nearly a mile wide, on an average, is 
very deep, and has a good, strong current. It is about fifteen 
miles from Constantinople to the Black Sea, and is nearly a city 
all the way, on both sides. Many of their most beautiful palaces 
and country homes are located here. Also the "Roberts College" 
is located here, on the European side of the Bosphorus. It is a 
fine, large building, on a beautiful, high place. It looked refresh- 
ing to us to see the Stars and Stripes flying over this college, and 
about three hundred students cheering as we passed. The scenery 
reminds one of the best part of the Hudson River, but it is more 
beautiful than the Hudson. There are about a dozen forts located 
along this great waterway, on either side, so that a Russian fleet 
from the Black Sea would not be likely to ever reach Constanti- 
nople without the permission of the Sultan. As we steamed out 

ii5 









-few *F> ! 








CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE — JERUSALEM. 
INSIDE VIEW. 



on the Sea of Marmora, on out return, we had a very fine view 
of this great city, with its many mosques, domes and minarets; 
being situated on seven hills, the view from a distance is very 
much more pleasing to the eye than a close inspection. 

On Thursday, March 23d, we arrived at Piraeus, which is 
the seaport for Athens, Greece, which latter city is reached by a 
very good electric railway line of six miles. The population of 
Piraeus is 65,000, and Athens 140,000. They are almost the same 
as one city. We were very agreeably surprised to find Athens, 
which is a new city, built within the last sixty years, on the 
original site of ancient Athens, which had been ruins for many 
centuries, to be a cleanly, well-built city. The streets are about 
as wide as ours, the business buildings three or four stories high, 
with plate glass show windows, and fine retail stores. The hotel 
where we took our lunch was up to date in all respects. It is 
really the most American looking city we have seen in Europe, 
and we find it quite a pleasure to be here after our recent visit to 
Jerusalem and Constantinople. The Greeks, as a people, are 
certainly far above their neighbors, the Turks, in intelligence and 
all that makes modern civilization. 

The ruins here are very interesting, although they are in very 
decayed condition. Most of these ruins, that is, the Temple of Min- 
erva, the Parthenon, which are both a part of the Acropolis, the 
Theatre of Dionysus, the Theseum, the Temple of Olympus, which 
were all built from three hundred and fifty to five hundred years 
R. C, show the ability of the original Greek architects to be of 
the highest order. These are all built of white marble, which 
was quarried near here, but it does not stand the test of time like 
the Egyptian red granite, or Egyptian sandstone, as the Egyptian 
temples which are one thousand years older, are in better condi- 

117 



tion to-day then the ruins of Athens. The difference is no doubt 
in the lasting quality of the building: material used. The location 
of the Acropolis is very grand, as it is situated on a solid moun- 
tain of rock, about four hundred and fifty feet high. The grandeur 
of these temples, in St. Paul's time, when they were in their 
glory, must have been beyond description. The most ornamental 
work in marble was done on the Erechtheum, but the Parthenon 
has most complete architectural proportions, being- one hundred 
and nine feet wide, two hundred and twenty-eight feet long", and 
about fifty feet high. The great number of statues which orig- 
inally adorned its outside walls are entirely gone. Located just 
south of the Acropolis, and about three hundred feet lower is 
the "Aeropagus" or "Mar's Hill," celebrated as the place where 
St. Paul made his address to the Athenians. This position is 
grand for preaching to a large audience. 

The Stadium, a very large amphitheatre, which was for cen- 
turies in ruins, was begun to be re-built in 1896, for the ( Mympian 
games, at an expense of $600,000, donated by a private individ- 
ual, whose statue stands beside this great play place. The arena 
in this amphitheatre is one hundred and nine feet wide by six 
hundred and seventy feet long, and the amphitheatre will seat 
over fifty thousand persons. It is not completed yet, but I hardly 
think it will be a success, as it is doubtful if the "Old Olympian 
Games" can be revived in this century. 

Athens has a fine, up-to-date city hospital, new and clean, 
built of white marble, with a fine garden in front, filled with 
statuary, trees, flowers and gravel walks. Also a fine, large white 
marble building, built by the donation of a wealthy London 
merchant, to be used as an Academy of Science. This also has a 
large, ornamental garden in front similar to the hospital. Then, 

119 




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they have a very fine, large public library, built by the donation 
of one man, of white marble, about the same size as the ground 
on which our library in St. Joseph is built, but it has an orna- 
mental garden in front, that is at least as large as the lot on which 
our library is built. All these three public buildings, the hos- 
pital, the Academy of Science, and the library, are built adjoin- 
ing, and with their ornamental gardens in front, and the orna- 
mental buildings themselves, with the many pieces of fine stat- 
uary which decorate their fronts, and their gardens, they present 
a view which any city might be proud to show. 

( )n Saturday, March 25, 1905, we made an excursion by 
railway from Athens to Corinth, Greece. This name is familiar 
to all readers of the Bible, as the early Christians had an impor- 
tant church here, and St. Paul wrote two letters to them, 1st Cor- 
inthians and 2d Corinthians. It seems almost incredible that 
an important large city like ancient Corinth should be destroyed 
completely. Hardly any of the ruins are now visible. We saw 
the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, built in the sixth century, B. 
C. There are only seven of the massive pillars now standing. 
The Americans have within the last few years done some work 
here, and excavated about one block, uncovering the ruined rock 
buildings, and some statuary, also quite a lot of small articles in 
the pottery line. They found a large fountain and three bathing 
places. The water is of good quality, and is now carried in iron 
pipes to the small village which is located on the originial site of 
old Corinth. The present city of Corinth is a bright little town, 
located about three miles down the valley, and adjacent to the 
sea. The Acropolis of Corinth is a rock mountain, just back of 
the site of ancient Corinth, on which was probably the strongest 
fort of ancient times. This rock is two thousand feet high, with 

121 



nearly perpendicular walls on three sides, and the fourth is very 
steep. We took carriages to the foot of this mountain, and there 
took mules and climbed about two-thirds of the way up. There 
we left our mules, and climbed the balance of the way on foot, as 
it was too steep for the donkeys. We found first a moat, where 
once had been a draw-bridge, then three sets of gates, about two 
hundred yards apart, each of which would appear impassable in time 
of war, and on the top we found a good sized city, in ruins. The 
army located here could never be taken before the days of cannon 
and shells. After returning from this mountain, we took our 
railroad train for Kalamaki, where we boarded the Aloltke. 
There is a great canal here, connecting two arms of the sea. This 
canal is three miles long, and the cut through the mountain is two 
hundred and sixty feet deep at the highest point. Water in this 
canal is twenty-five feet deep, and seventy feet wide. 

The present Greek natives number about two and a half mil- 
lion people at home. They claim there are, all told, about twelve 
million Greeks, nearly four-fifths of them being scattered over 
the world, but principally in the European countries. They are, 
as a rule, a good class of people, and we did not see such great 
poverty as among the other Eastern nations; still, they are poor, 
as a general rule, but self-supporting. The nation is deeply 
involved in debt. It is said that they owe about nine hundred 
million francs, as a national debt, mostly loaned by the Germans. 
They will be a long time in paying it, though they will no doubt 
keep up the interest. Their present ruler, King George, is placed 
there through English and German influence, and these two 
nations will without doubt shape the future of Greece. 

After leaving Greece, we steamed direct to Messina, Sicily, 
which is a fairly prosperous city, with a population of 141,000. 

123 



There is nothing: of much importance to mention in Messina. 
We took a railway train about twenty miles to Taormina, which 
lies on the side of the mountain, about six hundred feet above the 
sea. A very good graded road climbs up this steep hillside. We 
took lunch here at the International Hotel, and were greatly 
pleased with the beautiful climate and scenery. One view is, 
perhaps, the most beautiful we have seen. Standing on the 
balcony of the International, which is a beautiful new hotel, built 
on a rocky point, we had a fine view of Mt. Aetna, with its cap 
of eternal snow. It looked not over a mile distant, but was really 
about twenty miles away. Then the fort on the top of the moun- 
tain to the right, and five German battleships in the harbor to the 
left, with the finest mountain scenery all around us, made a view 
never to be forgotten. This is a very old and quaint Sicily town 
of about 3,000 population, and a great health resort for all 
Europe, in the winter. The air is very fine and invigorating. 
We would gladly have stayed over a few days here, if we could 
have done so, but the steamer had her regular schedule to make, 
and we were under obligations to go with her. After a night's 
steaming we were anchored in the harbor of Palermo. This is 
the largest city in Sicily, and they claim a population of 350,000, 
but it does not seem so large. These two cities of Messina and 
Palermo ship almost all the oranges and lemons that go to the 
United States from foreign ports, and Palermo does a large mer- 
cantile business. We went to the great Cathedral of Monreal. 
Located on a mountain about five miles out, built eight hundred 
years ago, celebrated for its Mosaic pictures on the walls and 
ceilings. There are three epochs shown in these Mosaics, in series 
of pictures running around the whole three walls. First epoch 
shown is the creation, the formation of the world, the animals, 

125 



Adam and Eve, and the rest of the early times. Next epoch 
shown begins with Noah building: the Ark, and represents all the 
important events given in Bible history, down to the Christian 
era. Then the Christian era is taken up, and about twenty of 
the great miracles performed by Christ are shown in these Mosaic 
pictures. Although so very old, all these Mosaics appear bright 
and fresh as though they had been made only a few years. The 
church is in good repair, and is used daily. The city of Palermo 
is well built, and has good, wide streets, like a modern city, and 
fine retail stores, much like our own. The people are like the 
fruit venders we have here in America, in fact most of the Dagos 
in America come from the Island of Sicily, but those who come 
to America are usually the poorest class. The people who are 
in fair financial condition do not leave their homes. The masses 
in Sicily are very poor, and will forever remain so, unless they 
emigrate. They do not need a great deal to live on, as the 
weather is mild. Most of the poorer class wear no shoes, and 
but few clothes, and their food is very cheap in quality, still, as 
a rule, they appear happy. In fact, at the present moment they 
are playing the guitar and singing outside my window, enjoying 
life in a jolly, careless way. 

Our next stop was Naples, and a great city it is. We are try- 
ing to see the most important sights in six days, and would be 
glad if we had two weeks here. First we went to the dead City of 
Pompeii, which is a suburb of Naples. We did not expect to see 
much there, but found it most interesting; the streets and public 
places, and some of the residences, indicate in their ruins what 
they were eighteen hundred years ago. The ruins of one resi- 
dence are very fine indeed. The roof is still intact, and nearly 
all the rooms are in fairly good repair. This residence no doubt 

127 



was the home <»i one oi the wealthj princes <>i Pompeii, when il 
was in its glory, Nearly -ill its walls are decorated with the finest 
kind oi painting's and frescoes, painted on the plaster walls, and 
ii. >i i..i.ii\ damaged. Some ol the work was better than thai done 
l>\ artists of this day. Hie colorings are verj fine, and the feal 
ures are as handsome as can be found in the besl pictures oi 
to-day. This has reference to this one bouse only, which has 
recently been excavated. Hien we went to the Museum .11 Pom 
peii. rhere are nol ver) man) articles there, chieflj the forms 
oi persons w 1 1« ► were smothered in the destruction <>i Pompeii, 
showing how sudden and awful the destruction was, Afterwards 
we were in the Museum al Naples, where all the besl things which 
have been found in the Pompeiian rums, are now on exhibition- 
1 1 1 1 - \ have .1 \ .im amounl <>i mosai< iil<' floors and mosai< pi< 
hues, .iii«l .i greal number <«i the finesl statuary to be found an) 
where, showing thai 1 lie artistic taste and skill of these ancienl 
Pompeiians was .11 leasl up 1 • » the besl we can produce to daj 
Borrowing .1 suggestion from .1 friend, 'Pompeii shows plainl) 
the final resull ->i all things earthly, and nothing lives Inn die 
soul." Ma\ the good Lord so direcl us thai our souls maj be 
right when the final call comes for each >'i us. 

We wciii i<> l.,i Cava, l>.\ train, after viewing Pompeii, and 
found ii a mosl delightful place, being .1 verj fertile vallej 
between mountains, rhe air is so verj exhilarating here, and 
1 In- scenei ■) so delightful, thai n almosl makes one shoul foi [oj 
\c\i morning we took carriages and drove fort) miles to Sor 
rento. We passed aboul fifteen small towns on the road, taking 
lunch .11 Ani.ilii. We think this is the mosl wonderful and bean 
liiul scenerj thai can be found in .1 fort) mile drive, in the world, 
Although the distance b) road is fort) miles, the distance in a 



1 29 



direct line is only sixteen miles. I I ere the rock mountains rise 
directly out of the sea, to the height of eight hundred to fifteen 
hundred feet, and the road is cut into the sides of the mountains, 
usually about* two hundred feet above the sea, though it varies 
in places from one hundred to five hundred feet above the sea. 
It is a well built rock road, fairly wide and smooth, with a good 
wall on the outside, to keep you from falling over the side of the 
mountain into the sea. There are continuous mountains all the 
way, and so many mountain peaks that 1 did not count them. 
I loweveron many of these peaks, in almost inaccessible locations, 
are Catholic monasteries, churches, convents and schools. Prob- 
ably a low estimate of these isolated institutions on this drive, 
would be fifty. Many are most beautifully situated, and many 
others are so high up the mountain that we could not see them 
close enough to tell how they really did look. The people here 
are good, strong men and women, and are very industrious, 
They have fruit trees or garden truck growing wherever there is 
a bushel of earth on the rocky mountainsides. Nearly their 
whole attention is given to raising lemons, grapes, and olives. 
The largest crop is lemons, and there seems to be enough here to 
supply the world. They cover the trees with straw or small brush, 
to keep the damp off, and the quality of lemons is very fine. The 
fish in this part of the Mediterranean are very plentiful, and good 
quality, and in all this land they offer us fish for every meal, 
except breakfast, and that is hardly considered a meal in Italy. 
A cup of coffee and a little bread is the usual breakfast, but for 
any one that has been in the habit of eating a sure enough break- 
fast, it seems rather light. 

After spending the night at Sorrento, we took a small steamer 
for Island of Capri, which is about four or five miles off the main 

131 



land, and like all the other land in that vicinity, very moun- 
tainous. Although only a few hundred acres in extent, Capri 
has a high mountain, and the view from it is very fine. It was a 
beautiful spring day when we made this trip, and the weather 
warm, with sea as calm as the Missouri River. Here we visited 
the Blue Grotto, which is a large cave, on the sea level, about 
one hundred yards long and fifty yards wide, and seventy-five feet 
high. You enter with row-boats. The entrance is only large 
enough for one small boat, and so low that we had to sit in the 
bottom of the boat to get in. There were about a dozen row- 
boats in this cave at the time we were there. The water inside 
the Grotto is very deep, and the light coming through the water 
in the small opening gives the whole inside a light blue appear- 
ance, both water and roof of the cavern. From Capri we went 
in our little steamer directly back to Naples, about twenty miles 
across the Bay of Naples, which is a very fine harbor, and large 
enough for the navies of the whole world at one time. There is 
a large amount of shipping done here. Naples is a commercial 
city, and a large amount of business is done there. It is a beau- 
tiful city, situated along the water front for three or four miles. 
There is one mountain in the central part, about four hundred 
feet high. The Bertolini Hotel is about two-thirds the way to 
the top of this mountain, and affords a beautiful view of the city. 
We enjoyed our visit at Naples very much, and would have been 
glad to stay longer. We almost forgot to mention a visit to old 
Vesuvius, the volcano, now in eruption in a mild form. This 
volcano is forty-two hundred feet high, and one of the most 
important sights of Naples. It is in plain view from all parts of 
the city. We went to the top on April 4, 1905, and to say that 
it is awe inspiring is putting it mildly. At present there is a cog 

133 



railway, operated by electricity, which takes us up about two- 
thirds the ascent. Then we changed to a car operated by a wire 
cable. This is very steep. The actual rise is sixty-three feet for 
every one hundred feet of track. This wire railway is about one 
thousand feet long - . When we reached the top of this we were 
still five hundred feet below the crater. Here we took chairs and 
were carried up to the crater by three, good, strong men. The 
ascent is very steep, and the path is covered with about a foot of 
dry sand. To be carried up in one of these chairs is much easier 
than to walk, but it is much more dangerous than to walk, for if 
the carriers should drop one over the side of the chair, he woidd 
not stop until landed at Pompeii, a mile and a half below. After 
struggling about twenty minutes, the three carriers set us down 
on the edge of the crater. About that time, the old mountain 
gave a big explosion, like a cannon, and threw out a large quan- 
tity of stones, lava and ashes, to the height of one or two hundred 
feet. We thought our final trip was near, but the guard assured 
us there was no danger. None of our party were hurt, as the 
explosion goes straight up, and still it seemed we were too close, 
as we were enveloped in smoke for a while, until the wind shifted, 
and blew it the other way. We were standing on the brink of 
the crater, but the explosions were rising about two hundred feet 
distant from us, and continued at intervals of about one or two 
minutes to shoot off a large charge of stones, hot lava, ashes and 
flames. The crater seems to be very close to the infernal regions. 
In coming from Naples to Rome, we passed through a fine, 
fertile valley, nearly the whole distance. This country is now 
planted with fruit bearing trees, and carefully cultivated with all 
kinds of garden products, also wheat and hay, and looks very 
beautiful, with a range of snow capped mountains, on each side 

r 37 



of the valley. We passed the Monte-Caseno Monastery, between 
Naples and Rome, founded four hundred and eighty A. D., 
and continuously occupied by the Roman Catholic Church since 
that time. It is the oldest institution belonging to the church, 
which has been held by them without a break in its occupancy, 
situated on an elevation about three thousand feet above sea level. 
It has now four large schools for boys. 

Rome is a beautiful city, with well built store houses and 
palaces, and three hundred and fifty-three Catholic cathedrals 
and churches, and a very few other churches, many public plazas, 
and more public fountains than we saw in any other city. Many 
of these fountains are very large, and some of them centuries old. 
The cathedrals and churches are the pride of the city, St. Peter's 
being the largest and finest in the world. They claim to have in 
St. Peter's the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and in another 
church the original cross on which Christ was crucified, also in 
another cathedral they claim to have the bodies of St. Peter and 
St. Paul, and the table on which Christ ate the Sacramental Sup- 
per, and in still another cathedral the cradle in which the Virgin 
Mary rocked the infant Christ. Also, in another cathedral they 
have the body of St. Matthew, and a picture of Christ, painted 
by St. Luke. In still another church they have the original stair- 
way which was in the house of Pilate, over which Christ walked 
when he was taken before Pilate to be condemned. These steps, 
or stairs, have been brought from Jerusalem and set up in the 
church here, and to-day we saw about one hundred persons going 
up these steps on their knees. It is wearing, both on the body 
and the clothes, to make this trip on the knees. We visited many 
of these cathedrals to-day. The St. Peter's is a wonderful place. 
While it is so very large, still it does not look the size that it 

[38 



really is, as it is so well proportioned, yet no other church edifice 
can compare with St. Peter's. We also went to the Roman 
Forum, and saw the very place where Mark Anthony and Joshua 
Motter swayed the Roman multitudes with their eloquence, and 
also the ruins of the Roman Coliseum, or Amphitheatre, which 
is built of stone and brick, and required the labor of fifty thousand 
Jewish slaves several years to build, also the Public Baths, which 
were nearly as large as the Coliseum, built entirely of brick. This 
was also built by the labor of thousands of Jewish slaves. In 
those days, when the Romans conquered the Jews, it was not the 
custom to parole the prisoners, and send them home. ( )n the 
contrary, they simply made slaves of the whole nation, and forced 
them to labor on such large public works as the Roman Amphi- 
theatre, and the Roman Paths. Probably the most important 
thing's to see in Rome, after the cathedrals, are the many picture 
galleries, both public and private. We have visited many of these 
galleries, and seen some of the most noted pictures now in exis- 
tence. I almost forgot to mention that in one of the cathedrals 
we saw the chains which were used on St. Paul when he was 
chained in prison. 

In going to Florence from Rome we went by Pisa, and stop- 
ped off there three hours. The Leaning Tower is the item that 
gives Pisa its advertisement, and it is well worth seeing. It looks 
better than the photographs, which is not usually the case, built 
of white marble, which they have here in abundance. In the lat- 
ter part of the twelfth century, it is supposed to have settled in 
its foundations, which caused it to lean. At any rate it is now 
seven hundred years old, and has not leaned any further, within 
the knowledge or records of the past six hundred years. It is 
kept in fairly good repair, and a thing of beauty as it stands 

139 



to-day. There is a large cathedral at Pisa, which was built about 
six hundred years ago, and is well tilled with frescoes and paint- 
ings. There is also a building called the Baptistry, built in cir- 
cular form, of white marble (that is the only kind they use for 
building here), about one hundred feet in diameter, and about 
one hundred and fifty feet high, with a fine dome. It is a beau- 
tiful, structure, was built six hundred years ago, and is as good 
to-day as when first erected. The echo in the Baptistry is the 
finest we ever heard. Also the cemetery here is well worth seeing. 
It is built with a long corridor on each of the four sides. These 
side walls, or corridors, are about forty feet high, and covered 
with frescoes all the way round. These frescoes were made seven 
hundred years ago, and although painted on the plaster walls, 
are in excellent shape still. They represent the Bible history from 
the creation down to and including the Christian era; also a very 
large fresco of Heaven, and another representing Hell. The 
artist's idea of Heaven and Hell is the same as is to-day preached 
from the Protestant pulpits. We haven't improved in our ideas 
in that respect, in the last seven centuries. 

Coming up from Pisa to Florence we passed through one of 
the most beautiful valleys we ever saw. The whole is under irri- 
gation. The canals and ditches are everywhere, and the valley is 
in the highest state of cultivation. The principal crop is grapes, 
although they raise nearly everything that we raise, except corn. 
Their seasons are long, and at the present time, April 12th, their 
vegetation is advanced about as far as ours by June 1st. This 
valley is densely populated. In fact it looks almost like a con- 
tinuous suburb of a city, all the distance from Pisa to Florence. 

We have now been in Florence two days, and think it the 
most pleasant and delightful city we have yet visited in Italy. 

141 




gCENH in naim.ks. 



The streets are usually of good width, the buildings ordinarily 
about four stories, and all in solid stone blocks, nearly fire-proof. 
No vacant lots. The store rooms are first-class, with good stocks 
of goods, in fact it is considered a good retail city. Population 
200,000. Principal attractions, picture galleries. We have seen 
here more fine paintings of celebrated artists than all we have 
seen in all other cities, combined. Whether you are a lover of 
art or not, you should not fail to visit the picture galleries of 
Florence when you visit Italy. They have art in almost every- 
thing here. The drives are beautiful. We drove out alongside 
the river, about three miles, and the view is very fine. The pleas- 
ure drive is as good as Hyde Park, London. The churches are 
numerous, and the Duomo, or Cathedral, Baptistry, and Church 
Tower, all being three seperate structures, are all built of alter- 
nate courses of white and black marble, making them striking in 
appearance. The building now called the Baptistry was origin- 
ally a pagan temple, and built so long ago that they have no 
record to tell how old it is, but it is a very fine structure, and in 
good condition for daily use. It is kept in good repair, so that it 
will last for a thousand years to come. It was changed to a Cath- 
olic church centuries ago; the bronze doors are the finest in Italy. 
They are called the Paradise Gates. It is said that when Michael 
Angelo was getting pointers for the doors to St. Peter's, in Rome, 
he came here and viewed these doors, and exclaimed, "They are 
fit to be the gates of Paradise, if Paradise needs gates." 

Among other places we visited the city hall in Florence, 
where the mayor and city council have their meetings. It is hung 
all the way round on its four walls with very fine Florentine 
Tapestry, made four hundred years ago, but still holds its colors 
well. The Tapestry pictures represent Bible scenes from the old 

145 



Testament. The floors are well carpeted, and the seats comfort- 
able. Altogether it is better fitted up than the city hall of St. 
Joseph; still we may have a better city hall than Florence when 
we are as old. 

The railway from Florence to Venice leads for a few miles 
out of Florence through a beautiful valley, every part of which is 
irrigated and under a high state of cultivation, then for fifty or 
sixty miles through the mountains, and the scenery here was very 
fine. The railroad runs around the edge of the many cliffs, and 
overhangs the valley perhaps five hundred feet below, where we 
could see many beautiful waterfalls, narrow green valleys, and 
nearly always a village or hamlet in sight. Then the tunnels were 
not so pleasant. There are twenty-two tunnels on the road, some 
long and some short. After passing the mountains we emerged 
into a wide valley or plain, sloping to the Adriatic Sea. This is 
also well irrigated, with innumerable canals, many of them large 
enough to float small boats. The whole plain is densely popula- 
ted, and seems to be still capable of producing good crops of all 
kinds, except corn. They raise no corn here, or any other place 
in Europe, except a part of Austria. Their principal products 
in this valley are hay and grapes. 

We arrived in the famous City of Venice about 7 p. m., 
just about sunset, and the view was very fine indeed, with the 
fine colors of the sunset shading into the water, and here is where 
they never suffer from drouth, as all the streets are canals, some 
small, and others (The Grand Canal) wide. When you alight 
from the train you take a gondola to your hotel, instead of an 
omnibus, and when you want to go anywhere, you take a gon- 
dola. They move along not quite as fast as a carriage, and no 
jolting. The housewife should find here a Paradise, as there is 

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absolutely no dust, and no need of a sewerage system. The 
movement of the tide keeps the canals clean, but it would not 
suit a Missouri farmer, as it is too wet to raise corn. 

Venice has about 140,000 population, and is not making 
much, if any, increase, but seems to hold her own very well. 
The city looks old and worn in many places, but not as worn as 
one might expect in a city built two thousand years ago, and 
always standing in the water. The St. Mark's Cathedral is of 
most importance to the sightseer, begun in 828 A. D., and com- 
pleted some centuries later. The cathedral has the body of St. 
Mark, the Evangelist. We saw the marble box containg his 
remains. Also they have an immense number of Mosaic 
pictures, over nearly the entire interior of the cathedral. These 
pictures have been there eight hundred years, but look as bright 
today as when first made. They also have two alabaster columns 
in this cathedral, brought from the ruins of Solomon's Temple 
at Jerusalem. These alabaster columns are very beautiful. You 
can see the light of a candle shining through them. The outside 
decorations are quite elaborate. The cathedral is built in the 
shape of a Greek cross, and has five large domes, also a great 
deal of fine, carved marble, many statues and columns. The 
most noted of the outside decorations is four bronze horses, 
which stand on the roof of the cathedral, in front. Viewed from 
the ground they appear about life size, but must be much larger, 
as they are at least a hundred feet above the pavement. These 
bronze horses have been twice captured, and taken to other 
countries, the last time by the great Napoleon, who took them 
to Paris to decorate one of his triumphal arches, but they were 
brought back and put in their original positions again, after 
Napoleon's downfall. Then we viewed the Doge's Palace, 

149 



which is now a public picture gallery, and has many very fine 
paintings. The famous "Bridge of Sighs" adjoins this palace. 
We walked over it, and through the prisons, or dungeons. They 
are about as bad as they have been reported, being simply stone 
made cells about nine feet square, with no light, and only a small 
hole through the door, large enough to pass in the food. Also 
we visited the "Academy of Fine Arts," which is a very large 
picture gallery, with many very fine paintings, by the most 
famous artists. Their great show picture here is called "The 
Assumption," by Titian; it is a large painting, about forty feet 
high, and twenty feet wide, the central figure being the Virgin 
Mary, with many other figures both above and below her. The 
Campanilla, which was one of the attractions of St. Mark's 
Square, fell to the ground about a year ago. It is now being 
rebuilt. We were pleased with Venice, and left with regret that 
we could not stay longer. In going from Venice to Milan we 
passed through a wide valley which is irrigated in all parts, and 
very highly cultivated, and looks most delightful. The Italians 
cultivate every foot of the land that will produce anything, and 
the whole country, except the mountains, is traversed by many 
irrigation canals, both large and small, and many rock walls and 
very fine graded macadamized roads, in all directions. 

We stopped one day at Milan, which is a large city, about 
450,000 population, bright and clean, up-to-date in almost all 
the latest improvements. The Duomo, or Cathedral here, is the 
most beautiful in the whole world. There are only two cathedrals 
larger. These two are St. Peter's in Rome, and the great 
cathedral of Seville, in Spain, but neither these nor any other 
church building will compare with the Milan Cathedral in out- 
side decoration. It has probably five hundred spires and pin- 

15 1 




VIEW NEAR AMAI.FI — SHOWING THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY 

IND OUR DRIVE FORTY MILES ALONG THE SIDE OF THE 

MOUNTAINS FROM I. A CAVA. 



nacles, on the top of each is a statue, and in niches in every 
place where a statue could be placed, are statues representing 
the Bible characters. In all I should guess there are more than 
a thousand statues on the outside of this great structure. The 
style is Gothic, and the roof is marble slabs, resting on brick 
arches. We walked over these marble roofs, which are so 
closely joined together with cement that they are as solid and 
water tight as one solid piece of marble. We also climbed up 
to the top of the steeple, which is four hundred and ninty-four 
steps, and viewed the cathedral and surrounding country. The 
city of Milan lay spread out before us from this great height, a 
beautiful city of red tile roofs, and compactly built, with many 
fine blocks ot four and five story buildings, many fine, wide 
streets, open plazas or squares, and many public statues of 
heroes in battle. Before leaving the city we went to see the 
world famous picture by De Vinci, called "The Last Supper," 
representing Christ and the twelve Apostles at the table. This 
is painted on a plaster wall, and is much damaged by rough 
usage. It is said that Napoleon once used this church for a 
stable for his horses, and at that time this picture was greatly 
marred. Still, it is well worth the trouble of going to see, by 
any one who visits Milan: in fact it is a wonderful picture. 
There are copies of it in all parts of the world, but none have 
the fine expressions of the original. 

Xext we took the train from Milan to Lucerne, over the 
famous St. Gothard tunnel route. This is mountainous nearly 
all the distance, and at once the grandest and most beautiful, at 
this season of the year, that we have seen. There are so many 
beautiful waterfalls and rushing torrents that it would be impossi- 
ble for me to describe them. A large number of smaller tunnels 

[53 



are passed before and after St. Gothard's, which is nine and one- 
fourth miles long", and took us fourteen minutes to pass through, 
at a rapid rate. Many of these tunnels are built in circles, and 
on up grades, before reaching- the great tunnel. We passed one 
small church three times in circling up the mountain, and another 
four times. The great St. Gothard tunnel starts into the moun- 
tain just above the snow line, as it is to-day. and about five hun- 
dred feet below the top of the mountain. Certainly the engineer 
who did this work is a man of great ability in his line. The air 
is so fine that many travelers spend the hot summer months here, 
and it is certainly an ideal place for summer. We stopped at 
Lucerne for two days. It is a beautiful little city between the 
snow clad mountains, on Lake Lucerne, 35,000 population, and 
about half the people are in the hotel business. They have many 
good hotels here. We stopped at the Schweizerhoff, and liked it 
better than any hotel we have tried in Europe. 

The principal crop in all Switzerland is the tourist; he is 
everywhere, and right he is, for the health-giving vigor of the 
mountain air, and the beautiful scenery of mountains, lakes and 
rivers, cannot be excelled. We went to see the Lucerne Lion. 
It is quite an artistic piece of statuary, cut into live rock. Also 
we went to the top of a small railway in the southern part of the 
city, called "The Gutch," about five hundred feet elevation, and 
the ascent is made by a wire rope railway. They have two cars; 
one going down pulls the other up. There is a water tank under 
each car, and while the car is at the top, the tank is filled with 
water. This gives it weight enough to pull the other car to the 
top with a load of passengers. When the car reaches the bottom 
the tank is emptied, and this car is in turn hauled up by the 
weight of the water in the other car,— a very simple and yet effec- 

155 




AMAI.1I AND THE SORRENTO DRIVE. 



tive water power. We viewed the city, lake and mountains, from 
this high elevation, and in was certainly a sight to be remem- 
bered, although the weather was rather too cold, and the mist did 
not give us a very good view of the most distant peaks, but there 
ai'e mountains here in every direction, and many of them covered 
with snow at this date, April 17, 1905. 

We left Lucerne for Paris on April 18, 1905, at 2 p. m., 
and had excellent train service, and a fine large compartment 
for our exclusive use, which enabled us to make the long rail- 
road trip very comfortably. The railroad company has a 
"restaurant" car on this train, where they serve dinner. At 
Basil, or Bale, as it is pronounced, the German frontier, we were 
required to get out of the train with our luggage and pass 
through the German custom house for examination. As we had 
nothing dutiable, we were not detained more than an hour, but 
when we arrived at the French frontier we were routed out 
again with our luggage, to pass the inspection of the French 
custom house. We got through here without much delay, as 
we had sent our trunks straight through to Paris from Venice. 
Then we had an examination of our trunks when we claimed 
them on arrival at Paris. We passed this examination also 
without much delay, but three custom house inspections in one 
day are too much to please the ordinary tourist, and should be 
legally avoided, by allowing the traveler to pass through on a 
declaration that he has nothing for sale in their domain. 

The country from Lucerne to Paris is not as fertile as in 
Italy. After leaving Lucerne we had about two hours through 
the mountains of Switzerland, and passed many bright little 
towns, then through the German territory of Alsace and Lorraine, 
which is fine farming country, and appears prosperous, but when 

157 



• <V^V V'' 




we passed the French frontier the soil was not so good. In 
places, where irrigated, they have fine crops, but a large part of 
France cannot be irrigated, as it is too far from the mountains. 
There are several good towns in this part of France, being 
occupied principally by people who operate factories of various 
kinds. 

We spent ten days in Paris, and were there a little too 
early, as the weather was too cool and wet for out door pleasure. 
But there is always "something doing" in Paris. The Roman 
says, "See Rome and die." The Parisian would say, "See 
Paris by day light and gas light, and spend your money here, 
before you die." Paris is a beautiful city. The French are the 
most polite nation on earth. They excel in art. The Louvre 
(iallery is probably the largest picture gallery in the world. It 
would take several days to do the Louvre. The "Grand Opera 
House" is the most expensive opera house now in use in the 
world. The entrance, built entirely of marble, outside and 
inside, is the finest we have seen. It is the center of the business 
portion of Paris, and has six of the principal streets, which lead 
direct to it, like the spokes of a wheel. The Arc de Triumph, which 
was built to commemorate the victories of Napoleon, is the most 
imposing structure of this kind, about one hundred feet high, 
with an inside stairway to the top. It is located at the crest of 
the hill on Champs Elysees, and is the radiating center of twelve 
wide avenues, and has a remarkably commanding position. The 
Eifel Tower, one thousand feet high, is the best place to get a 
bird's eye view of all Paris. An elevator runs to the top every 
fifteen minutes. We took a drive on the Bois de Bologne 
Avenue to the Park, which is the largest city park in the world, 
about three miles long and one mile wide. While it has no hills, 

159 




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like Central Park, New York, it has a large river, which is 
supplied with an unlimited numher of pleasure hoats. The drives 
and walks are very fine, with grassy lawn and forest. The park 
makes an ideal place for Paris in summer. 

The Palace of Versailles is about fifteen miles out from 
Paris. We took a coach drive out and hack, and enjoyed it very 
much. The large palace is now a "Public Picture Gallery." 
The fountains at Versailles play only one day in two weeks. We 
happened to be there the day they were playing and it is cer- 
tainly a great sight, when the water is spouting from a hundred 
of these large fountains. Coming back to Paris we halted a 
moment at the Arc de Triumph, for a view of the Avenue 
Champs Elysees." From here a grand view is obtained for a 
mile down this great avenue, which is a hundred feet wide, and 
at this time was filled, the entire distance, with a moving mass 
of vehicles, of all kinds, from a go-cart to a six-horse coach, or a 
ninety-horse power automobile. 

The Hotel des Invalides was a great church, but is now the 
"Tomb of Napoleon," as his remains lie in the center of this great 
edifice, in an immense red porphyry casket, about ten feet wide 
and fifteen feet long. Around this casket stand twelve statues 
about ten feet high, representing twelve of his generals. Also 
there are around these statues many flags which were taken in 
battle. This is one of the greatest tombs, if not the greatest, ever 
occupied by man, much larger and finer than the tomb of Gereral 
Grant, in Riverside Park, X. Y.. which was modeled after it. The 
bodies of two of Napoleon's brothers, Joseph Bonaparte and 
Jerome Bonaparte, lie in large granite sarcophagi at either side 
of the great doors as you enter. Napoleon is almost worshipped 
in France. 

161 



The "Bon Marche" is a great department store in Paris, also 
the Louvre Department Store. These are the only department 
stores of large size in Paris, and they are not as large as many 
department stores in the United States. The most of the mer- 
chandising in Paris is done in small shops, carrying one special 
line. 

The hotels in Paris are excellent, and the French are the 
hest cooks in the world. In all the large hotels English is spoken, 
so that the American has no trouble in making his wants known, 
The rates are about the same as the best hotels in this country. 
Many travelers go to Pensions (boarding houses), and there the 
charges are moderate, about one or two dollars per day, accord- 
ing to the location and rooms. The cab fare is one franc fifty 
centimes (thirty cents) for a mile drive, or less, and that includes 
all that can get in the cab. The fare is all the same for one per- 
son or for five. 

We left Paris April 28th, by fast express train for Boulogne, 
France. The country from Paris to Boulogne is poor, thin soil, 
and near the English channel is almost a barren sandy waste, the 
poorest country we have seen in France. The railway train was 
first-class in every respect, and the trip was made pleasantly and 
quickly. On arrival at Boulogne we immediately went aboard 
a small steamer, which took us out about two miles in the chan- 
nel, where we transferred to the S. S. Blucher, of the Hamburg- 
American line, for Xew York. This steamer is a twin sister of 
the S. S. Moltke, built at the same time, and all parts are alike 
in each vessel. We had the same number of state room as on 
the Moltke, and were greatly pleased with the ship and crew. 
The passenger list was one hundred and ninety first-class, one 
hundred and seventy-five second-class, and six hundred and ten 

163 



steerage. The first-class passengers were about half Germans, 
some coming to America to visit relatives, and many to make 
their homes here. The other half were Americans returning to their 
homes, among which were several very pleasant friends whose 
acquaintance we had made going over on the Moltke. The 
second-class and steerage passengers were immigrants from Ger- 
many, and a few from France, coming to America to find employ- 
ment, and they were good, sturdy, honest looking people. We 
never get too many immigrants of that class. They make good 
citizens. 

The S. S. Blucher is a fine, large vessel, 12,335 tons, and a 
steady boat in rough seas. We had fair weather the first day out, 
and after that heavy head winds and high seas, all the voyage. 
Her regular time is eight days, but we were nine days in making 
the trip, on account of storms. The Iilucher has a first-class brass 
band, which is pleasant on a long voyage. On Sunday morning 
they awakened us by playing the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" 
just outside our door. We had fog one day, and the blowing of 
the fog-horn about once a minute is not pleasant. This steamer 
has the Marconi wireless telegraph system, and we were in tele- 
graphic communication with other steamers much of the time. 
Mr. D. F. Henry, of Pittsburg, Pa., one of our passengers, sent 
a Marconigram to Pittsburg while we were a thousand miles at 
sea, and received a reply from Pittsburg promptly. In order to 
do this great telegraphic feat there happened to be two other 
steamers between us and the land, about equi-distant, and the 
Marconi message was taken and forwarded by each. The toll on 
a Marconigram is two dollars for ten words, to which is added 
the ordinary telegraph tolls on land. 



165 



No doubt you can imagine that the last day of our voyage 
was the most pleasant to us. We were favored with a beautiful 
bright day on May 7, rox>5, all( l took on our pilot for New York 
harbor about four p. m. This harbor is one of the best in the 
world, and it certainly looks good to an American who has been 
long enough in foreign lands to realize and appreciate the great 
advantage America has over any other country on the face of the 
earth, with a form of government "of the people, for the people, 
and by the people." Situated far from Europe and Asia, there 
is no probability or reason for any entanglements or wars with 
other nations; with both the great oceans of the world washing 
our shores, with mines of gold, silver, copper, iron and coal suf- 
ficient to supply the world, with oil to light and lubricate the 
world, with the most of the timber land on earth, with the soil 
and climate to produce the cotton to clothe the world, also wheat 
and corn in abundance and to spare, — a country discovered by 
Columbus only four hundred years ago, really an infant in age 
compared with the nations of Europe and Asia, and already the 
foremost nation of the earth; a country where every young man 
has the opportunity to make a great name for himself, if he has 
the zeal, ability and application; a Christian land, were Christian- 
ity is taught in every city, village and hamlet; with a public school 
system so efficient that every child in the whole country has an 
opportunity to get a good education. "To whom much is given, 
of him shall much be required." Then let us, as a nation, so dis- 
charge our duties that the United States may be a blessing to all 
mankind. 

We landed about seven p. m., and were delighted to get 
manv letters and telegrams from friends and relatives before bid- 



166 



ding good bye to the good ship Blucher, which had brought us 
safely through the rough seas. 

And now, after a delightful trip of over three months in for- 
eign lands, we are more pleased to return to our own native 
country than we were to leave it. Our visit has been most pleas- 
ant, we think also educational and healthful. 

As the foregoing has been written in the steamer social room, 
with many ladies within hearing, discussing the merits of their 
purchases, or in the hotel reading room, or in the hotel sleeping 
room, anywhere I could get an opportunity to write a few lines, 
I beg you to excuse the disjointed composition, also the gram- 
matical errors, as well as all other errors. 
Yours truly. 

W. W. Wheeler. 



167 



HARDMAN PRESS. 
ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



